By Kenn Gold

Vibrant, fun and talented.  Actress Vanessa Born can be seen in the lead role of Gloria in the next installment of the Bring it On franchise, Bring it On: Fight to the Finish, which premiered on DVD on September 1, 2009.  From a young age, Vanessa knew she wanted to perform, and before long was starring in plays like West Side Story and Peter Pan.  Then she auditioned for the NBA dance team for the Sacramento Kings.  She then got a break and began appearing in the Youtube.com series, Downstairs Guys and Upstairs Girls as Taryn.  She also got guest spots on shows like CSI:NY, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Hannah Montana, and was featured in the documentary, Unscripted Life in the NBA.  Vanessa was previously involved with the NBA program Read to Achieve, which has a special place in her heart.  She now also is devoting some of her attention and her growing voice to Invisible Children; a program that seeks to help children conscripted or abducted to fight a war in Uganda.

Vibrant, fun, and talented.  Vanessa Born is an actress with an amazing spirit and an uplifting way about her, who should go far in Hollywood.  She recently took time out of her busy schedule to talk about her role in the Bring It On film, and about her growing career.

MediaBlvd>How did your experience with the NBA dance team  help you out with filming this movie?  Were the moves trivial compared to what you were used to doing?

Vanessa> The funny thing is, I thought it was going to be a cake walk.  I thought I had it in the bag, but when we went to rehearsals, I was pleasantly surprised, but also very scared that it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.  It was good though, and very motivational to see all of the cheerleaders at work.

MediaBlvd>Did the other actors eventually come to you for help with their moves?

Vanessa> Yeah, we all helped each other out.  It’s weird.  Rachael and Megan were on the other team, so we really couldn’t help them too much, because we didn’t learn their choreography.  But whoever was around, we were always getting together and just helping each other out anyway we could.

MediaBlvd>With the direct to DVD format, movies can get a lot more sequels than they might otherwise.  Do you think that format opens up a lot of new ground to you as an actor?

Vanessa> I think it’s great.  Bring it On has such a cult following, all over the world.  Not only in the United States.  I think those fans are live and die, and it gives you so much inspiration.  It’s what they want, and if they keep wanting it, they are going to keep producing it.  I think as an actor, it’s really cool.  Work is work!

MediaBlvd>What kind of pressure was it with such a huge cult following.  Did you feel like you had a lot to live up to?  You had to put out a good product.

Vanessa> Yeah, I felt like there was a lot of pressure to bring something new to these characters, and bring something really fun that hadn’t been seen before.  You’ve seen a lot; the sassy, the fun, the feisty.  So to try to make a culmination of those and make something that they were going to be like, “She said what?”, was pretty exciting.

MediaBlvd>Had you seen the earlier movies, or did you just watch them to prepare for this role?

Vanessa> Of course I’ve seen them all!  Are you kidding?  I’ve seen them all.

MediaBlvd>Which was favorite, or did you have one?

Vanessa> I actually like Bring it On: All or Nothing.  But I don’t know.  The original is always going to stay in my heart forever, because it was the first one. 

MediaBlvd>How did you decide you wanted to get into acting?  What was the point in your life when you said, this is what I want to do?

Vanessa> It was probably around the age of 5.  My parents have vintage video of me just being ridiculous, interviewing my mom when she came home from the hospital with my baby sister.  My character was ‘Merryweather Sunshine, reporting to you live’.  I really thought I was going to be a news caster for a long time, or an MTV VJ.  It never worked out that way.  I was always the dancer, or the host.  Somebody who was making somebody laugh, so acting just hit me over the head a bunch of times, and I finally just started paying attention and listening. 

MediaBlvd>Are you starting to get recognized now when you go out?  Do people come up to you on the street and say, “Hey, I think I know you from something?”

Vanessa> I did get randomly recognized at the mall in Burbank.  This guy was back and bodying me, checking out my items or whatever.  And he goes, “Oh my God, your Gloria!”  I was like, “I didn’t tell you my name, I’m Vanessa.”  And he was like, “No, you played Gloria!”  I was like, “Yes, you’re absolutely right!”.  But that’s never happened to me in my life, so I it was very weird.  I felt like a nerd, and I was geeking out to the guy.  “Find me on Facebook!”  He was like, “Ok, alright!”  So we’re Facebook friends now.  And Facebook is really awesome too.  I went from having 12 friends to having a hundred and something over night.  That was really cool, and I liked that a lot.  I like talking to different people from all walks of life and hearing their stories.  They ask, “How do you get into acting?”, and I tell anybody anything I know.  It’s fun.

MediaBlvd>What was the most fun part about filming Bring it On, or what part of the experience did you enjoy the most?

Vanessa> Definitely the dancing.  But probably more, the kinship or the friendship with the girls.  We’re all so close now because of it.  It’s pretty ridiculous.  We still get together for each other’s birthdays, and if there is any kind of event that we can all make it to, we try.  Not everyone can be there all the time on everything, because everyone has different shooting schedules, or whatever.  But whenever we can, we definitely try to get together.

MediaBlvd>One thing I really enjoyed was the music video during the end credits.  Was that fun to shoot?

Vanessa> It’s fun right?  That was like the best time ever.  It was the best day of shooting.  It was the last day of shooting, and it was the best, altogether.

MediaBlvd>What kinds of projects do you have coming up?  Do you have anything in the works that we should look out for?

Vanessa> I’m auditioning right now, just for random TV stuff.  This is so Hollywood of me to say, but I’m actually looking for an agent right now.  That’s the next thing on my goals list, to get an agent.  And then I’ve spent a lot of time with my family, for sure.  I got to take a mini-vacation up to Sacramento when we got to do signings and stuff.  And appearances and promos are still going on, so it’s been a little bit busy for me. 

MediaBlvd>One thing I’ve got to ask about, on your IMDB profile you have the writing and producing credit for, let me get the title right, “Oh Snap, You’re Trapped in the House With a Crazy Lunatic.”  Can you talk about that?

Vanessa> Right, that will be coming out.  We’re trying to find distribution, and all kinds of stuff right now.  It’s made and it’s edited, but we don’t know who is going to distribute it yet.  We’re in meetings right now.  So you can’t really say, because you don’t know yet.  But it’s a comedy horror.  It’s a romantic comedy that will make you scream.  It’s pretty hilarious.  You think you’re watching a romantic comedy the whole time, then these cheesey death scenes happen.  It’s really ridiculous!  People will really like it, but I’m like “Oh my God, I made a movie by myself!”  I’m mortified.  But now I know how hard it really is, and I have such an appreciation for everyone involved, who makes a film, who tries to make a film, or shoot something on their camcorder.  It’s really, really tough and it takes a lot of dedication to get through it.  So I’m really proud of everybody who was involved with it.  I’m very excited, and hopefully you guys will see it!  If not, then NetFlix it, I don’t know (laughs).

MediaBlvd>With that title, I think I’d have to check it out just to see what it was.

Vanessa> I know, it’s so goofy!  That’s me and my friend Chrissy, we’re nerds. 

MediaBlvd>Where do you see yourself down the road, say 10 years from now?  Do you want to keep up with the acting, do you want to write or produce, or what?

Vanessa> That’s a very good question.  I definitely see myself acting.  I really want to do a Televeision series for like 8 years, like Friends or one of those things.  Television to me is my first love, but films just seem to be what I book more of these days.  But acting for me is like the begging and the end.  Maybe 10 or 15 years later, I’d love to be a producer like a Selma Hyack, and have Ventanarosa!  My own company.  That would be amazing.  I kind of bought my own little company, it’s called All Smiles Entertainment.  But I don’t know, I had high hopes it would get going right away, but it’s taking a little while.  But acting is just such a great creative outlet for me personally.  It’s hard to focus on too many things at once, so I want to just focus on that for right now.  Then, it seems like a lot of people like me in that genre, comedy.  If I can make people laugh, it’s a good day, so I’ll stick to that as long as I can. 

MediaBlvd>You mentioned TV, is there any particular show that you’d like to be a part of, or come into, or even guest on?

Vanessa> My God, there are so many!  If I was ever in a drama, I’d want to be in Sons of Anarchy?  That guy is so sexy, and I’d want to be like a Mayan biker princess.  A rival biker woman, and maybe he could fall in love with me!  That would be so great.  I do drama pretty well, but everybody knows me for comedy.  If I was going to do comedy, even as a guest star, I’d do Bing Bang Theory.  Or maybe some of the new shows.  Glee would be awesome.  If I could do a guest star on Glee and sing and dance, my life would be fulfilled!  It would be the best time ever.  But we’ll see what this year brings. 

MediaBlvd>Would you like to talk about some of your charity work?  I know you were involved with Read to Achieve. 

Vanessa> I’d love to talk about the Invisible Children’s foundation.  I can’t speak enough about it right now.  Read to Achieve was an NBA program that we did in the past.  Right now, the NBA is changing over, so it’s not so much their focal point.  But when I was dancing, it was.  That’s a really, really close topic for me because I couldn’t read up until the 2^nd grade.  It’s so horrible.  It’s bad that I fell through the cracks at an early age.  My parents were so great, they were young parents, and they took me out of that school and got me into another one, and worked with me night and day.  And now reading is like all I ever do.  Obviously for my job, you’ve got to read, script after script.  Kids out there, if you’re not reading, you might want to start.  There is nothing greater than experiencing that, and having those characters come alive in your mind.  It’s very different.  I was really afraid of it, and just scared to be confidant in reading, and I think that’s a lot of kid’s problem.  Maybe they don’t say per say.  Don’t be afraid though, get help.  Ask your teachers, ask your neighbors.  You can’t be a Blue Bird for ever!  I wanted to be a Red Robin, and I was a Blue Bird in my little reading group.  I got there eventually though, and became an Eagle.  It was cool. 

But now, I’m really trying to be more of a voice for Invisible Children.  You can go to invisiblechildren.com, and you can buy bracelets, and merchandise.  If you don’t have any money you can text and donate two or three dollars.  It doesn’t cost you a whole lot, but it’s a really, really great campaign.  Just go to the website and check it out, and you’ll be really surprised at how these kids’ lives have changed.  They don’t really have a voice for themselves, so it’s up to us to go to the White House, go to Obama and say “Please help us out!”

MediaBlvd>As you’re getting more and more popular as a celebrity, you really have a voice, and I think a lot of people don’t really recognize that they have that. What sorts of things would you like to use your voice to support or talk about as people become more and more tuned into wanting to know what Vanessa Born thinks?

Vanessa> If anybody cares what I think, I’d really hope that we can just telephone and spread this feeling of kindness around.  I really just feel like everybody is self involved and in their own little world, and that’s fine. You can’t help it if that’s how you are, but if you just take a little step out of that comfort circle and start to be kind and just look around and see that you can help people in little ways, it can make such a huge difference.  I don’t think I was mercenarily a believer in that in the beginning.  I thought, “What can I do that is going to make a difference?”  I’ve got to tell you, I did something so dumb.  I just took out my neighbor’s trash.  She had it out, and I know she has a hard time going down the stairs.  I snatched it and took it to the trash, and she was so grateful.  I was going downstairs anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal.  But she was like, “You don’t know how much that meant to me.  I’ve been avoiding it and my house smells. That really helped me out, Thank you.”; just even saying thank you to people when they do something awesome for you.  I think that feeling of gratitude is not used enough.  If you just try it, it really starts catching like wildfire.  And I know I sound like Pollyanna right now.  It really does make a difference, and I think younger kids especially, have the power to do that.  So why not?  We should all uprise and do it! 

 MediaBlvd>Do you feel like you are becoming a role model to younger girls, especially minority girls who may want to get into acting, and follow the same path?

Vanessa> I hope so.  It would be nice, because I know that the people that inspired me, I couldn’t stop watching them forever.  I remember being a little kid, and my mom having an old tape of Fame.  She had all of these old tapes from before I was born, and I remember watching them and thinking, “I want to do that!”  Somebody who looked like me, with dark hair and dark skin, and curly afro!  I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do!”  If anyone felt even remotely like that after seeing a performance of mine, that would be awesome.  So yeah, I hope.  That would be cool.

MediaBlvd>So far in your path in Hollywood, what have been the best and worst parts about going into this career?

Vanessa> Well, the best parts are that one moment when the stars align, the moon comes out, and the sun hits.  And you get that great job!  That is always going to be the high point.  It’s like that movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, with Wil Smtih.  All the people are swirling around him and the sun is shining.  It really does feel like that.  And then, on the other hand, the not so glamorous part of it, also like the movie, is the struggle that you go through.  I just remember not even really having a place to stay sometimes; trying to juggle things around, and getting to my auditions at any cost.  We get so very few chances in life to really shine, and so many people just push it off, and say, “Maybe next time.”  That kind of attitude doesn’t really work in Hollywood.  You have to always be ready to go for it, and not let yourself get bogged down.  You can be sad on your way to a happiness, like a successful awesome feeling.  But you have to understand, you can’t stay there.  You can’t sit in it and live in it.  You have to realize, it’s hard for a reason.  When you do get it, it’s so easy and it’s so great.  So as long as you know the hard times are for something that is going to be the most amazing thing ever, it’s all worth it.  But you’ve really got to get through the hard times to get to that one little glimmer!  

MediaBlvd>Is there anything else you want to let people know about, or mention?

Vanessa> Be kind to your neighbor.  Be kind, rewind, though we don’t even have VHS anymore! (Laughs)  No, just do what you want to do for as long as you can, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.  That’s the big thing with anybody, kids, adults, older people- everyone is really quick to tell you no, and you’ve got to find a way to say yes, and to keep going.