AMY SMART the talented & lovely actress ... born March 25th, 1976 in Topango Canyon, California ... was a relatively new arrival when she first gained notice for her supporting roles in the 1999 hit teen films "Varsity Blues" and "Outside Providence." With her blonde, carefree California girl good looks, the Los Angeles native got her start in TV-movies and made her feature debut in Stephen Kay's "The Last Time I Committed Suicide" screened at 1997's Sundance Film Festival. She was briefly seen in Paul Verhoeven's big-budget sci-fi actioner "Starship Troopers" and had an impressive turn in the vastly different, quirkily independent "How to Make the Cruelest Month." In the latter she played Dot, the graceful golden girl who seduces the one-time boyfriend of her sister, the troubled protagonist Bell (Clea DuVall). The by-the-numbers horror film "Campfire Tales" followed in 1998, along with the topically chilling but clumsily executed internet stalker thriller "Dee Snider's StrangeLand," written, produced and starring the titular Twisted Sister frontman as a deranged torturer who meets his victims in web chatrooms.
Amy would reach her widest audience with a co-starring role opposite James Van Der Beek in Brian Robbins' surprise box office hit "Varsity Blues." The actress played Jules Harbor, a girl who longs for life beyond her small town's high school football-obsessed culture but who, as sister of the injured star quarterback (Paul Walker) and girlfriend of his idealistic replacement (Van Der Beek), is tied to it. With her darkened hair, sad eyes and intelligent portrayal of the strong-willed Jules, Smart reminded audiences of Van Der Beek's "Dawson's Creek" co-star Katie Holmes. She would next be featured as Shawn Hatosy's upper-class love interest in Michael Corrente's poignant 1970s era comedy "Outside Providence." Based on Peter Farrelly's novel, the film followed a working-class teenaged boy (Hatosy) sent by his abrasive but loving father (Alec Baldwin) to a tony prep school after running into trouble at home ...
Amy made a name for herself by playing good girls in Varsity Blues (1999) and Outside Providence (1999), but nowadays she's doing even better being bad. The 24-year-old blonde with an infectious smile and an easy laugh can be seen on the hit television series Felicity as Noel's new love who gets pregnant by another guy. She recently played a second-rate model caught up in drugs and cult religion in the NBC miniseries The '70s, and now in Road Trip, playing at theaters --- as a girl who likes to videotape her sex life.
Some may recall seing her in a more risque role in Varsity Blues, but they're wrong. "People still think I'm the one who had sex with a guy and lots of whipped cream," she says. "That girl was actually my friend Ali Larter. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we're both blond."
Road Trip gives Amy her first topless scene, opposite hunky Breckin Meyer. "I'd never done nudity before, so I was a little nervous," she admits. "Then the director, Todd Phillips, told me that he would never forget watching Phoebe Cates drop her top in Fast Time At Ridgemont High (1982). He said it changed his life. I guess that made me feel better" (editor's note - I would assume that director Phillips, thanks to Amy, recently experienced yet another change of life). ...... Amy did check with her mother first. "She said, 'If you think it's the right choice, then you should do it'" Amy says. "I was just so glad she didn't become overprotective."
Road Trip is a teen comedy of errors that casts Meyer as Josh, a college student who has cheated on his significant other with Beth (Amy). The videotape of their amorous encounter is accidentally mailed to his girlfriend at her Texas college, so Josh, and a few buddies hit the road to the Lone Star State, determined to intercept the incriminating tape.
Co-starring as Meyer's bizarre roomate is the widly unpredictable MTV comic Tom Green. "We didn't know what to expect from Tom," Amy says. "We were all a little nervous that he might be trying to pull some gags on us during a scene. But he was really very nice and low-key. But after the camera stopped rolling he'd get a little crazy."
Most of the rest of the Road Trip cast are male, but Amy says that wasn't a problem. "Fortunately, there weren't any big egos," she says. "I felt completely at home, because growing up I was sort of a tomboy. I was the one skating with the boys. I even played Little League with them. I was the only girl on the team, and they called me 'Smarty Pants.' So I've never had any trouble getting along with a bunch of guys."
She may be a budding movie star with two hits behind her, but Smart says that so far it's television that has given her whatever recognition she enjoys. "I get recognized a lot for Felicity," she says. "I guess people sort of get hooked on their favorite series and watch them religiously. When fans of Felicity see me, it's like they know me." Her character on Felicity has forced Amy to deal with the issue of teenage pregnancy, which she says has been a real eye-opener. "I met some single young women who kept their babies," the actress says. "I used to wonder how they could make that kind of mistake and get pregnant. Now I'm much more forgiving, because I realize the love they feel for that child. I have a lot more compassion, which was a huge learning lesson in itself." So was playing a pregnant character. "I had to put on this pregnant suit," she says. "just looking down at my big belly was wild and kind of exciting. I want to have kids eventually, and so I'd go, 'Wow, this is what I'd look like.'"
Amy and her brother, Adam, had a thoroughly conventional upbringing in Topanga Canyon, California. "I was very shy," she says. "I was always watching one of my friends, Vinessa Shaw, who started acting when she was very young and ironically, got the good-girl role in The '70s. First I studied ballet, and when I danced on stage I loved the attention. Then I finally took the leap and enrolled in an acting class, and I was hooked. Her first career opportunity, however, came as a model.
"Vinessa Shaw suggested me as a replacement in a photo shoot," she says, "and I got the job. Suddenly I was getting assignments to travel places like Italy, France, Mexico and Tahiti. I wasn't a cover girl, but I was able to pay for my first car and my first apartment." "I never worried about getting pigeonholed as a model," she says, because i wasn't getting that much attention."
Amy made her acting debut in a small part in an MTV "Rock The Vote" promo, and went on to minor roles in Starship Troopers (1997) and The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997). Then came Varsity Blues, and the wheels of celebrity began to turn. "I'm still close to my parents," she says, "and they help keep me grounded. But they get a kick out of what I'm doing. For instance, NBC put a huge '70s billboard on a building in Burbank. It was almost six stories high. My father called me up and said, "I brought my cameras to work. Let's have lunch and take a few pictures.' He was posing me in front of this billboard with a picture of me on it," the actress says. "It was so sweet."
Another grounding influence in Amy's life is her boyfriend, actor Branden Williams. "We've been together for a long time," she says. "It's nice to be with somebody who understands this business. If you don't, I think you could become incredibly insecure in a relationship with an actor." Actually, Smart says, despite the cliche of the neurotic actress, she considers herself perfectly secure. "Sometimes you just have to take charge," Amy says. "I remember that, when I was doing Felicity it looked like it would conflict with The '70s. I really wanted the chance to play this wild party girl on the miniseries, but I also knew that getting pregnant on Felicity was something I had to do. Finally I called up J.J. Abrams, the Felicity producer and I told him I really wanted to do both and I needed him to help me. That little phone call kept me on the show. I realized how important it was to speak up and not get caught in having an agent or somebody else speak for you. I charged ahead, and I got what I wanted."
"The other thing I've learned," she says, :is how the best people, especially some of the legends are really just people. You have the larger-than-life image of them, and then you realize that they're not trying to be that way. It actually brings up my own confidence. You realize they're just people too. And if they can do it, maybe you can too."
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Amy Smart talks about her seductive new role in Road Trip, the difference between acting and modeling, and toe licking directors.
May 17, 2000
We like to keep tabs on Amy Smart, cuz she usually outshines everyone she shares screen space with, combining insane beauty with a saucy wit. And while she's kicking ass in the Hollywood game, this momma is about more than just the business. After a series of solid roles (most notably in Varsity Blues), Amy has landed in the ultra-raunchy summer comedy, Road Trip. She's the kind of girl that you're afraid to hook up with on the first date, opting to prolong the funk in homage to her angelic demeanor. After this initial taste, we're hungry for more Smart in the future. Something tells us, she won't disappoint.
IGN Movies: How is acting different from modeling?
Amy Smart: I started modeling when I was 13 and so, from always being in front the camera, I got familiar with it. But then again, when you're in front of the camera, it's as if it's not there, for acting. So of course at the beginning, I was really nervous. But I was very aware of it…you just get used to it being there and kind of leaving it by itself.
IGN Movies: What do you do when you aren’t working?
Amy Smart: I just love to be a normal person and garden and cook and take yoga classes and study with my acting coach and seeing films and old movies. And just have that - play with my cats and - you know, go hiking.
IGN Movies: What was set life like on Road Trip?
Amy Smart: You know, whenever you go on location, there's this - you build this camaraderie because you all end up eating dinner together and waking up in the morning… and spend the weekends off doing fun things - opposed to shooting in your home town, where you live. You just say, "That's my job; and now I'm going back to my real life." So when you're on location, you definitely become a lot closer then you would, you know, otherwise. But I just love this cast and I'm definitely going to remain good friends with a lot of them. Because they're all so sweet and a few of them are really new to this whole business and it's - everything's new and exciting. And it's like I'm reliving that with them, like when I first started. But it's fun working with a young cast. But I eventually -I mean, you want that balance. It's fun working with people who are up and coming - but I'm really just dying to work with these idols of mine here. I know it will take my acting to a new level, just watching them and working with them, kind of thing.
IGN Movies: Who do you like?
Amy Smart: Emily Watson. Meryl Streep. Jodie Foster. They are all wonderful.
IGN Movies: What was it like to do that scene on the bus with Todd? [While riding the bus a guy, played by Road Trip director Todd Phillips, sneaks up on her and starts licking her toes – much to her disgust.]
Amy Smart: He [Todd Phillips] is so funny. And he has a foot fetish.
IGN Movies: Were those your toes or did they have a double?
Amy Smart: No, those are my toes.
IGN Movies: They weren't?
Amy Smart: No, they were. They were. Yeah. That was so - that was just like a fun scene that we did, with his wig.
IGN Movies: Speaking about uncomfortable scenes, how did you feel about doing your love scene topless?
Amy Smart: You know what? I really thought - I thought it kind of lent itself to the movie. If the stakes weren't that high, they wouldn't have taken that risk just to get that video. It was just fun days of work. And with Breckin [Meyer] - I mean, we've been friends and I felt comfortable with him and - and I thought it was tastefully done in the film.
IGN Movies: You mean with the topless girls or the naked girls?
Amy Smart: There was much more that they didn't put in.
IGN Movies: Did they tell you about the nude scene up front?
Amy Smart: They did. They did because - just like I said - because it would make the stakes higher for the whole purpose of this road trip. And that's what's natural. I mean, you're not always clothed when you're having a love scene. Or in real life, when you're with somebody, you know, you take your clothes off. So it was just more realistic.
IGN Movies: What was it like working with Tom Green?
Amy Smart: I've seen all his stuff, and when he came to the set he wasn't deliberately cracking any kind of jokes. And then as soon as the camera went on and that snake went in his hand and the mouse went in his mouth, I was like rolling [At one point, Tom Green attempts to urge a snake to eat a mouse – by way of example].
IGN Movies: Do you like the new trend in teen movies? Would you like to see more films starring up and comers?
Amy Smart: I'd like that. I think it's really innovative and it's - you somehow believe it a little bit more. Like American Pie - you didn't know anyone in it, really. And I think that's more realistic. Because then you can really take it for the story and I like that they're bringing - and it's also a great opportunity for all these news actors to get in.
