Photographer, Darrin VanGorder
TAEM- It’s not many times that I have been able to interview a famous celebrity from my old stomping grounds. Therefore I’d like to present a beautiful and talented actress that hails from my childhood home of Long Island, Miss Christina DeRosa, to all of our readers.
Christina, please tell us about your first introduction to acting where you worked on-stage with Natalie Portman.
CD- If my memory does not fail me, I was less than 10 years old, just 11 years ago or so. I always have problems with numbers. By the time I was 10, I had already been in numerous theatrical productions and when I met Natalie, we became fellow munchkins. I can tell you that during our breaks, we would all sit in a circle, playing games and sharing secrets. Natalie shared, she did not want to be an actress when she grew up and wanted to be a doctor like her daddy. That was when her last name was still Hershlag, before the movie, The Professional. Since then the medical world has lost a great doctor but the theatrical world, gained, an amazing actress who I hold the greatest regards and admiration for.
TAEM- Tell our readers about the training that you undertook towards your career, and the accident which convinced you to head for California to complete it.
CD- After my first year of college at The Boston Conservatory, that summer I went and did Summer Stock in upstate New York. It was a humbling experience, where I had to spend the first two weeks cleaning toilets, painting walls, and making sets. During my very first rehearsal, playing the part of the giant, yes, little ole’ me playing the giant, and trying new physically demanding poses, I twisted my ankle, fell on my knee and fainted. Next thing I remember I woke up in a horrible, little, in the middle of nowhere town, hospital wondering if I could continue being a dancer, an actress, a singer. I was desperate and the prognosis was depressing. At that young age, my emotional forging occurred. I refused to remain an invalid and I pulled all my strength and all my will and pushed and pushed and pushed to be at the level that I am now. So yes, I have paid and I am paying my dues, in order to keep my dream moving onward.
Scavenger Cup's Qualifiers Celebrity Draft Party at the Tropicana Poolside in Hollywood 1
CD-As an actress, work begets work, and there is always something you can learn from any acting work that you do, so those particular gigs although, small, were a good little learning experience of projects that I grew from.
TAEM- Tell us about the roles that you played in these and how they gave you confidence with your career.
CD-The confidence I received from working on those particular projects, gave me, the ability to better judge the quality of work I consider doing, based on all factors, big and small.
TAEM- For the next two years you played roles in ‘Stupid Teenagers Must Die’, ‘Palo Alto, CA’, and ‘The Metrosexual’. You also had a part in the well known series, ‘Entourage’. Describe the themes behind these productions and the actors that you worked with in them.
CD-What you are probably referring to, is that in all the mentioned projects, I was portraying a character who was in control of her sexuality, who knew how to entice men with her demeanor and who knew when to flash her breasts to the other character for the sake of the story. During this time, I started to form the essence of who, Christina DeRosa, the actress, would become by embracing the sexuality, that was made the most of by such actresses as Mae West, Sharon Stone, Angelina Jolie, Halle Barry, and Kate Winslet, in their career.
TAEM- The following year found you in a number of well-known projects. Your roles in ‘Marco Polo’, the many popular television series ‘Everybody Hates Chris’, ‘ Reno 911’, and ‘Worst Week’ proceeded your well known role as Nancy in ‘Extreme Movie’. Tell us about your favorite acting parts, and some memorable moments, in each of these.
CD-Although all my projects were a lot of fun and allowed me to further develop my essence, the most fun to me, was Extreme Movie, AKA Parental Guidance Suggested, where I played, Nancy, the singing porn star. Finally being able to sing and dance while acting in a feature film that has become a cult classic. It is wonderful when fans approach me on the street singing a few bars from the musical theater version of the song, “Making Porn.”
TAEM- In 2009 you appeared in a spate of projects that included ‘The Grind’, ‘Thanks for Dying’, and ‘Run! Bitch Run!’, which was a horror-thriller genre film. How did this film expand your horizons after playing in a number of comedy roles?
CD-Oh, the beautiful horror genre, fully embraced by today’s youth. Yes, thanks to those movies, my fan base has greatly increased to a worldwide audience, now that the movies have been distributed around the world. Although I am ready to do another horror feature, by far, I love doing happy, joy joy, spiritually uplifting movies where people will walk out of the movie theater, with a big smile on their face and maybe for a few hours, forget all their troubles, because my image is in their mind.
Photo by Howard Wise, 2011
TAEM- During this same period you portrayed Hannah in thirteen episodes of ‘The Sex Chronicles’ as well as roles in two episodes of ‘General Hospital’. In 2010 you also played in two television series, ‘Tiny Entourage’ and ‘1000 Ways To Die’ followed up in the next year by playing in the television movie of ‘The Barista’. How were you able to muster so much energy for these various productions and keep the many characters that you played separate from each other as you acted?
CD- First and foremost, one project, that now I am proud of is Zane’s Sex Chronicles, season one, produced for CineMax under the auspices of HBO. When I decided to join the production, I realized the character I was going to portray would allow me to expand my dramatic acting skills, while at the same time, in three separate episodes, fully embrace my sexual essence. After completing the series and receiving acclaims for portraying the role of Hannah, in Zane’s Sex Chronicles, I had to deal with individuals who felt that I had made a mistake that would prevent me from furthering my career in Hollywood and I let them take the best of me so I tried to bury that project along with a few more. But now, I came to my senses. I want to apologize to all my fans around the world for trying to hide my complete body of work. By doing so, I felt like I was hiding a piece of myself as if I did something wrong. I now know for certain, I did nothing wrong. As an actress, I portrayed characters in major TV shows and films with extreme sexuality. These characters called for nudity and risqué scenes where no intercourse ever occurred. I did not do porn as Hannah; I acted out sexual fantasies. There are many other roles for which I am proud of and no, I will no longer bury my work as an actress. I want to be me; I want to be Sexy Christina DeRosa. I can only hope that 100 years from now, my name will come after any of my heroines.
TAEM- We’ve also learned that you have six new project that you are working on this year. Are you able to tell us something about them?
CD- Out of all the six projects, the most interesting project that I am currently working on is The Black Russian, a movie where I will portray, a free spirit, a woman who left the States, to find herself and travel the world. She learns some hard lessons along the way, finding herself in a bar in India, drugging costumers to take them back to a hotel room and rob them of all their goods in order to continue funding her spiritual and enlightening journey through the Indian continent. Yes, my favorite role, a role where the female character is portrayed on top, in control.
TAEM- Christina, you are a talented and beautiful actress, and I am sure that we will hear more about you in the next few years. We want to thank you for taking your time for your interview with us and know that those who follow The Arts and Entertainment Magazine will enjoy learning all about you.
CD- Thank you for the opportunity to share myself with your readers. Peace and Blessings!
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