Drew Sidora after the interview. Image Copyright©
Movie Jungle International, INC. All Rights Reserved.
Born in Chicago, Illinois on May 1st, 1985, singer and actress Drew Sidora made her debut at the age of nine in Thomas Carter’s “Divas.” Later she became the lead singer for R&B group Mo’Tempo. Her other career credits include the Wayans brothers’ 2004 comedy “White Chicks” and TV’s “Without a Trace” along with numerous appearances in “That’s So Raven.”
Ms. Sidora talks a little about playing a younger character – “Longevity is incredible and in this film we’re high school students and she’s very innocent but you see her have a little growth at the end when she overcomes her little situation with relationships and all that so I can identify with that. Everybody goes through that at some point in their life. She’s sassy and sophisticated and she’s always telling Nora what to do. Then she realizes that the same advice she has to give her friend, she has to give herself. She’s loyal, she’s real, she’s a great dancer but she’s pushing herself to be this great singer. She’s got all that confidence so I definitely saw a lot of similarities between us.”
Do you actually sing in the movie?
“I do! That’s why when I heard about the movie I was like “hold on this is so me!” You know, to be able to show both sides of myself being a singer and coming from that background, being introduced. Because this is my first starring role, so a lot for a lot of people to see that I’m a singer and an actress was a lot for me. It was important. It was a one in a million type role.”
She enthusiastically chats about singing in the movie – “That wasn’t lip-synching at all! That was real singing and the song that was in that scene is in the soundtrack too. It’s called “Till the Dawn.” The soundtrack is coming out August 8th. Actually there’s another song I do with Mario called “For the Love.” I’m working on my album too.
You’re a writer as well?
I write, I actually wrote “For the Love.”
Jenna and Channing said these roles felt catered for them and I noticed you said the same thing. Did you think that was interesting?
“Exactly, it was like these roles were made for each one.”
Did that change the chemistry at all for you?
“I think it made it easier and I think in the movie people can relate to us a little more. It’s just a real authentic film. I think that’s really important for us to be able to really connect to the characters. It just made it a lot more fun.”
Drew Sidora after the interview. Image Copyright©
Movie Jungle International, INC. All Rights Reserved.
“What about this tape that you sent?” I ask.
She laughs and answers – “I was in Chicago and there were all these girls and they were looking for someone that can really sing, act and dance. When I found out that it still wasn’t cast I was like “Ok let’s just put this on tape and see what happens.” I sent the tape and two days later they called and they said “You want to fly to LA? We loved the tape.” And then I got the movie from there.”
Curious as to what exactly she was doing on the audition tape I ask “Were you singing on it? What were you doing?”
“I was singing, I actually sang “For the Love” then of course I did the scenes.”
When was this movie filmed?
“We were actually in Baltimore for two months just working on the dancing. So we started filming in September at the end of September and we wrapped in November.”
The dancing you learned in the movie, are you going to use that in your own album?
“Oh yeah! I was like this is for a reason! I am definitely going to use a lot of that. The heel I think was the biggest challenge because I’m always in gym shoes.”
She’s asked what’s next for viewers:
“My next film is a breakdancing movie so I’m doing the music in that as well. It’s called “Me Girl.”
She’s also up next in “Wild Hogs”starring John Travolta, Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence – “I play Martin’s reckless teenage daughter.”
How was it working with John Travolta?
“He was very humble. You see his jet fly in and you’re all nervous but when he steps off with his family he’s just the nicest guy. He’s quiet, soft-spoken. Had a lot of wisdom.”
