Regine Nehy is a young actress who has had some amazing roles in her short career.  Starting with her first lead part in the Lifetime movie, Fighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell Story after only a few auditions, Regine went on to start in Pride as the only female swimmer on an all male team, opposite Terrence Howard.  She also had a very memorable role on Grey’s Anatomy, in which Katherine Heigl’s character revealed that she had previously had a baby which had been given up for adoption.  Regine has an important role in the latest from Samuel L. Jackson, Lakeview Terrace, which premiered this weekend.  In that film, Regine plays the daughter of a police officer (Jackson) who terrorizes a mixed race couple who moves into the neighborhood.  Regine also has a lead in the upcoming independent German film, The Transfer. 

She recently took time out from her busy schedule to discuss working with Samuel L. Jackson, and her upcoming trip to Europe.  Regine appeared on The Two Doctors on July 8^th, 2008 and the following is a transcript of that interview.

I think most people are probably familiar with you from Pride, which came out a few years ago.

Regine> Yes, that was about the swim team in the 1970s.  And Terrence Howard was playing the swim coach.  I’m the only girl on the swim team.  It’s an all boys team, so people can recognize who I am.

I seem to remember you kind of came in and kicked butt there?

Regine>Yeah, the auditioning process was pretty grueling.  First they asked if we could swim, then they let us read for the role.  We went over to Santa Monica College to swim a couple of laps for the camera, so they could see if we could swim.  Then a couple of days later they called and said they loved me, and I got the part.  I have to be honest, I used to swim when I was younger, so that helped a lot too. But right before I went for the audition, my mom and I were at the YMCA 24 hours a day, trying to get back into shape.

Now you have Lakeview Terrace coming up, can you tell us about that movie?

Regine> Yeah, Samuel L. Jackson plays a police officer.  It’s set in Lakeview Terrace, California.  The whole premise is that an interracial couple moves in next door to Samuel’s house.  He has this whole thing that he is dealing with because his wife had passed away, and she may have had an affair with a white man.  So he doesn’t like interracial dating at all.  And he just has this complex about it, so he basically terrorizes the neighbors.  I’m playing his daughter and I fall in love with a guy at school who happens to be white.  I’m terrified to tell him about it, so I get advice from Kerry Washington who is playing the wife.  It was a lot of fun, and it was a great shoot.  Everybody is amazing.  Patrick Wilson is in it, and Samuel Jackson and Jay Hernandez.  So there’s a good amount of people.  And it’s with Will Smith’s production company, Overbrook Entertainment, and Sony.  So it’s cool, and really exciting.  The coming attractions are intense.

How was it working with Samuel L. Jackson?

Regine>It was great, I had so much fun.  Honestly, you wouldn’t think it, but he’s kind of shy.  He was kind of quiet on set and very focused.  You wouldn’t think that.  But it’s a coincidence because I worked with his wife on a previous movie.  I did MTV’s my Super Sweet 16: The Movie, and she played my mother, so I’d worked with his wife two months prior.

So you’re like an adopted daughter now!

Regine>Yes, that’s how I feel.  I’m going to have to knock on their door and say, “Can I stay for awhile?” 

I wouldn’t think of him as being shy.  I’ve never actually interviewed him, but other people from our magazine have, and I almost think I’d be afraid to.  He’s so cool and so powerful as an actor.

Regine>He has that kind of silent power.  He’s very engaging, but at the same time he’s very humble, and just a great person.  I had a great time.  No bad comments at all.  The cool thing was that right after we finished shooting, Iron Man came out.  And if you wait till the end of Iron Man, you see him.  He’s going to be Nick Fury.  That was so exciting because I love comic books like Justice League, and the Avengers.

How did you get involved with acting?  How did you get the bug?

Regine>I’ve been doing it since I was really young.  I started around six years old.  I used to live in Philadelphia and just moved out to California like four years ago, and just started doing it professionally, not too long ago.  I’ve been doing musical theatre and kind of off Broadway things.  I’ve been involved with the whole performing arts aspect of everything for awhile, but just recently said let’s do it professionally, and getting paid for it.  You need to eat, that’s important.

Your bio says you were 16 years old when you convinced your mom to let you move to LA with your sister?

Regine>Yes, exactly.  The cool thing was I had a manager and agent who were interested in working with me before I moved out here.  So that helped a lot.  There are a lot of people who move out here with nothing and you really have to struggle to get to where I was before I even came out here.  So that was definitely a blessing already to have that.  I booked my first big leading role about three months after I moved out here, and was in a Lifetime movie with Jami Gertz and Ernie Hudson. 

How many auditions did you go on before you got the Lifetime thing?

Regine>I think I went on maybe 4 or 5.  I auditioned for a couple of TV shows.  I auditioned for one that was a crime investigation show, and was so close and I was so excited, but I didn’t end up getting it.  I didn’t have SAG yet, so it was this whole thing, but everything worked out.

I guess so, with only three months.   Some people are there for years before they get anything, or never get anything.

Regine>Yes, that’s so true.  I think that’s where you get good fortune when things like that happen.  I’m definitely very thankful.  Of course you do have struggles even when you are working.  There’s figuring out where you are going to live and stuff.  We went through rough patches but I’m glad that I’m able to do what I love to do.

Do you like doing a thriller like Lakeview Terrace?  Would you like to do a couple of more like that?

Regine>Yes, definitely.  I think the next time I do one, I’d love to do a little more action and do fight scenes and all of that.  That would be fun.  I’m definitely looking forward to it, and I’m open to all kinds of characters and films and things.

I think you’re really lucky to be starring next to Samuel L. Jackson.  He just generates so many great movies after another, and the roles are so varied.  This one seems so totally unlike what you see him doing in other films.

Regine>I can honestly say, I got to see the whole film a while ago, they had a couple of screenings; He plays an amazing villain.  Then when people see Nick Fury, they are going to go crazy.  He plays an amazing villain and that’s the best part of the whole film.  He slaps me in the film, and I was like, “Yeah, go ahead, slap me all you want.”  But there’s definitely a lot of action in this film, and if you like action and like thrillers, then yeah, you’ll like this one. 

It seems like you’ve done some pretty heavy things, starting out with the Lifetime movie, then your part on Grey’s Anatomy.  You had a really meaty guest role on that.  People usually come on for a few minutes, but I definitely remember you in that role.

Regine>Yeah, it’s funny because before I got that part, I hadn’t watched the show at all.  After that episode, I’ve been hooked on the show.  The cool thing about that episode is that Katherine Heigl tells the audience that she had a child that she gave up for adoption.  That’s a huge plot, or big thing that comes out and the reason a lot of people remember that episode is because I’m the girl who is pregnant and Katherine is talking to me about her child and whether or not we should keep our children.  That set was amazing, and everybody was really sweet. They are very light hearted, and it wasn’t serious at all.

Do you worry about getting spoiled at all?  I mean, Samuel L. Jackson and Terrence Howard?  Maybe they are just two of my favorite actors, but then you’re on the number one TV show, with Katherine Heigl and you get to help reveal this major thing about her back story.  Is this all going to spoil you for the future and for future roles?

Regine>I guess, but at the same time you can never have too much of a good thing.  Everything that comes to you, you kind of attract to yourself.  Every since I was younger, I’ve always wanted to work with great actors, so I just hope it keeps happening.  I hope that wasn’t my peak or anything.  I still have a ways to go.

Now that you’ve done both TV roles and major motion pictures, which do you like better?  Being on a TV series, or being on a movie.

Regine>I have to say probably being in a movie.  When you’re in a film it forces people to go to the theatre to see you.  When you’re on television, you have TIVO now, and people are like, “Oh, I can watch the next episode.”  I love TV too, don’t get me wrong, but I just love the whole getting dressed and going to get popcorn, going to get a ticket and seeing a great film.  I definitely love that aspect of it.  I think when I get older and kind of settle down with travelling and all that, I’d like to do a TV show and have something stable.  For now I want to go all around the world and film in the deserts, go to Bali and all that.

Maybe that’s a good segue into The Transfer, which is just starting production?

Regine>Yeah, we’re in pre-production right now, and I’m actually leaving for Germany in two weeks or so.  It’s a great film.  It’s filmed in Berlin, and I play two different characters in one body.  The whole script is about the future and how people can buy bodies to transfer their souls into.  There’s this new technology that allows elderly people whose bodies may be giving out, to freeze their bodies and transfer their souls into younger bodies.  So 20 hours a day, they transfer their souls into these other bodies and sleep for four hours.  So for the four hours they are sleeping, they come back alive and are kind of caged in this prison.  So they see night for four hours a day.  My character is from Ethiopia, and she sells her body to this couple for this whole transfer process.  She’s trying to get money for her family.  She’s very poor and lives in this village, and that’s why she decides to sell her body.  During the film she starts to realize that maybe this isn’t the best idea and she meets this guy who has also transferred his body.  They end up trying to escape and trying to breach the contract.  It gets pretty crazy.  The cool thing about it is that I have to have two accents.  I have to have an Ethiopian accent and then a German accent.  The woman who transfers into the Ethiopian girl’s body is German.  And even though she’s in this body, she has the same voice and the same mannerisms, though she looks different.  It’s kind of confusing, but one girl is very proper and the other is very sassy.  When the one girl who is very proper is in her body, she sits up very proper and writes differently and speaks differently.  Then when she’s not in the body, she goes back to being herself. 

Will you have a dialect coach?

Regine>Yes, I definitely will have a dialect coach.  We’re working on that now.  My character also has to play the cello, so we’re getting a cello instructor.  The whole thing is the director is holding a bunch of rehearsals before we start shooting.  And we’re actually going to have a workshop where I get to meet the other actress who is playing the older woman.  I’m going to get to meet her and see how she speaks and she talks, so I can mimic her and pull from that when I’m filming.  I don’t think it’s going to be that hard.  The more fun you have with it, and the more you take control of the accent and playing the cello and all that, the more people will believe it.  If I really get on screen and give it 100% the more believable it will be.

Do you think this is more sci fi with special effects, or more character driven? It sounds like it’s more the second.

Regine>Yes, it definitely is.  There are scenes towards the end though, where you see the two characters change.  So you see the German woman’s head on the Ethiopian girl’s body.  So different things like that, you see them transfer in and out for a split second, but it’s definitely more character driven.  It’s about the two different stories and the two different life styles.

Who is funding this movie?  It’s a German film, or is it a co-funding?

Regine>Most of the actors are American, but it is filmed in Germany, and it’s a German production company.  Right now it’s an independent feature, so I’m not sure about the budgeting.  I think they are going to film it as an independent feature then take it to film festivals and maybe try to bring it here to America.  Right now, it’s a German production company that’s behind it, and all the crew are from Germany. 

This sounds like a movie that’s really going to challenge you and help you grow.

Regine>Definitely and when I get back, I’ll be like, “What’s next?” 

How long will you be in Germany?

Regine>About a month a half, I should be back in mid-September just in time for Lakeview Terrace to come out.  I want to try to make the premiere and do press for that.  If not, the latest I’ll be back is by October.