Mario Steps Up

He's an R&B superstar. Mario Barrett was raised in Baltimore where his first film Step Up takes place and he started singing at home. By the time he was four, the youngster was making good use of a karaoke machine and singing duets with mom. His early talent led Mario to win contests. In his teens he contributed to the Dr. Doolittle 2 soundtrack and a performance of Stevie Wonder's "You and I" impressed bigtime record boss Clive Davis who boosted his career.

Mario released his self-titled album in 2002 and it featured collaborations with Grammy-winning Alicia Keys. The sound got even better with 2004's "Turning Point". The artist toured with Destiny's Child, received two Grammy nominations in 2005 and is now working on his junior album.

In the dance drama Step Up, Mario makes his movie debut and he is quite real and impressive. Playing a talented performing arts high schooler who has a rough background, the new actor is warm and winning. He's also a friendly interview. Since he was wearing a bright turquoise v-neck sweater and classy bling (large-ish diamond studs, a necklace, diamond and ruby ring and a diamond encrusted watch) there was no way to miss the star as he entered the room. We couldn't help but note that this dude has some really loooong eyelashes and his little shadow mustache works for him.

Mario sits down across from us, looks at our tape recorder and comments...

Mario: I lost my tape recorder last week.

We tell him we're sorry but we need ours for the interview.

TeenHollywood: The director said you blew them away in your first meeting. It was 'we've gotta hire that guy'! What did you do?

Mario: You know what? I don't know because I was so nervous. This is my first feature film role. I got the script about a week before I met with them, and it was overwhelming. I was meeting with the director, not the casting director. I'm either going to get the role or not. I was nervous going in to meet with her but she came at me with open arms. Be yourself. 'I want to see who you are'. As soon as I walked in the room, I'm like 'hold on, let me get myself together. I know this character. I've been where he was in this script. I've been denied and I've been at a point where I've had to step up to a challenge. I've experienced something new that was going to take me to another level in my life'. It was a matter of me being myself and that's exactly what I did.

TeenHollywood: Did anyone ever steal your thunder or take credit for something you did like what happens to your character Miles in this movie?

Mario: I wouldn't say steal my thunder. I've had people who've pretended to be more than they were. They wanted to be there because of who I was or where they saw me going. It comes to a point where eventually they will come to show their true side. I'm sure everybody's experienced that before. To answer your question, yes I have experienced that before.

TeenHollywood: Was there any concern that director Anne Fletcher had never directed before?

Mario: Actually, it kind of made me feel more comfortable. Like we were both experiencing something new. Anne helped me on set to feel comfortable with the role, with Miles. Basically telling me every day, 'you have him. We couldn't have picked anyone better for the part than you'. But I also was feeding off of Channing [Tatum] and his energy. When I first met him he was rehearsing, dancing, and he was telling me that was new for him. It wasn't like I was the only one experiencing something new.

TeenHollywood: How did you know it was the right time to take that next step in your career by being in a movie?

Mario: For one, I had just finished promoting my second album and I had just come off a world tour with Destiny's Child. I wanted to try something new before I recorded this junior project. I knew it was going to be a long, long project and working with a lot of producers. So, I just wanted to do something different.

TeenHollywood: But why this role?

Mario: I'd been receiving a lot of different scripts and thinking maybe this acting thing is not for me. I can't find a role for my first role that I feel comfortable with. I got this script and they're shooting in my hometown. I'm like, 'OK. I can dig that. I can be home and shoot my first film, which is a great script already'. Once I met Anne and talked to her and she told me her vision for the film, I knew it was going to be great.

TeenHollywood: Did any of the film compare to your high school experience?

Mario: The love interest part did a little bit [he laughs]. In high school I was always the young man that a girl would come and talk to about problems with her boyfriend. Why? I don't know. It's not a bad thing, but I was always that young man. I wrote a song about that also. But, having friends that I could relate to that have the same love as I do for music, no. My friends were more rugged. More on the rough side. More street. I was more like mama's boy slash street. I didn't grow up with my father. My mother was into music and loved music. My grandfather listened to jazz and drank liquor. That's all he did. I grew up around a lot of music.

TeenHollywood: When you're composing, do you use a Mac notebook like your character does?

Mario: Yeah. That's so real. I can't go anywhere without my Mac. All my music's on there. Actually, two months ago, my hard drive failed on me and I was on my way to the airport. I cancelled my flight and went to the Mac store and said 'you gotta fix this for me'. He wanted me to send it out (for repair) and I said 'I need to have this information back'. It's kind of upsetting to have to depend on a computer to have your good music in it and it can fail.

TeenHollywood: Your character Miles made great use of his though.

Mario: Miles was definitely someone that took his Mac everywhere with him. He had his brown bag. It was personal for him. Don't mess with his brown bag. I definitely still want that bag. He was focused and everything he did was structured. [In the film], he was at the party and Heavy D came in and asked him, 'you got your computer bag, what are you going to do?' (Miles) went right on stage and he showed them. 'I don't need to be in anybody's shadow to be successful and do what I want to do' and that's exactly what he did. That was his movement. That was Miles' movement. To show them 'that's what I love'.

TeenHollywood: What was it like working with Heavy D?

Mario: He was cool. He's been in the business for a long time. His whole thing is just educating me on how important family is, how important true friends are, how important it is to stay focused and have the right people around you at all times. Not letting anybody keeping you down or make you do anything you don't want to do. Being young, and an artist and actor and having to wear a lot of different hats can be stressful sometimes. A lot of people may try to take advantage of that, knowing that you may not know certain things, and you may just be starting out. Just being in control of your business. I enjoyed that. As far as acting, I learned more about it from Channing and Jenna who have more experience.

TeenHollywood: What songs do you have in the film?

Mario: I have one song in the film. There were some label situations where we didn't move on the visual part of the music. As far as the song, it was me and Drew [Sidora, who plays his love interest in the movie]. We have a song on the soundtrack called "For the Love." When I first met Drew, I didn't know she could sing. I'm thinking she's a dancer and actress. She's cool. She's a pretty girl. A week and a half later I hear this big voice coming out of her. I'm like [eyebrows raised]. After the film, she came to me and said 'we have an opportunity to do a song together on the soundtrack', and I'm like, 'Cool. We gotta find the right producers and you and me can write something'. She's like, 'listen, I already have the song'. I'm like, 'OK. [laughs] Let me hear it'. She played me the song and it was perfect for what Miles and [her character] Lucy experienced in the film. We ended up using it for the part where we start to have our chemistry.

TeenHollywood: What's going on with your new CD?

Mario: My CD. It's coming together nicely. I'm excited about it and shaky and scared about it at the same time. I've done well with my last two CDs. Thank God for that. Now, I've got to step up to that challenge.

TeenHollywood: Any collaborations?

Mario: Right now, I haven't done any collaborations other than Sean Paul. I'm doing some writing next week with Alicia Keys, who I worked with on my first album. I did some collaboration with Nelly on this album. I also worked with Tyrese at the top of the year. I don't know which songs will make the project. That's just to name a few.

TeenHollywood: Is the music and film business similar?

Mario: I don't think they're similar. The people in the music industry are more characters. It's show business, entertainment. If you're head of marketing or promotions at a label, you still have to be an entertainer. You have to be able to explain to an artist your vision, and have that artist frame of thinking. You have to think artistically. In films, as far as directors and producers go, there's a similarity in that. Your talent speaks for itself in films whereas in music you can cookie cut. You can get away with some things for a couple of years. As far as longevity, you can't get away with too much. In movies, your talent speaks for itself.

TeenHollywood: Did this experience whet your appetite for doing more films?

Mario: Absolutely. By the middle of shooting Step Up, I was sold on shooting films. This is another way for me to express myself. And expressing not always what I want to express. Sometimes I have to dig deeper to find something I didn't know was there. That alone, helps you with your growth and expands everything in your life.

TeenHollywood: So, have you shot more movies?

Mario: I got another role for a movie called Freedom Riders. It's an MTV/Paramount film and Hilary Swank's in it. It's an amazing, intense drama that's written and directed by Richard LaGravanese. It comes out on Martin Luther King's Day. Hilary Swank plays a teacher that changes the lives of a class of students, all from different ethnic backgrounds, who are totally segregated at first. The school system didn't have any worries about their education. They were at the bottom. And she came in and worked three or four jobs to pay for their books and do school trips to give them a whole different frame of thinking and take them out of their environment for a minute. It's an intense deep film,

TeenHollywood: Could you relate to it at all?

Mario: I could relate to it a lot by growing up with a single parent who had drug problems when I was growing up. My character, Andre, he actually grew up with his mother who had a drug problem. His father was a pimp who was never there. His older brother, who he looks up to, is facing life in prison. He feels like the world's on his shoulders. So the classroom becomes a family for them. It's a great film. It's based on a true story. You can buy the book in stores. It's called the "Diary of the Freedom Riders".

TeenHollywood: You wouldn't mind being an action hero?

Mario: Not at all. I love films like Independence Day and War of the Worlds. I like Superman. But he was just kind of nice. He was a little sweet in the film. Wasn't he a little sweet? I was looking for Superman to be a little more tough.

TeenHollywood: Do you have a musical role model?

Mario: I loved this group called Boys 2 Men. That was from my mother. Stevie Wonder, from my mother [too]. My grandmother loved Marvin Gaye. She liked classic music like Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. I came up around a lot of types of music.

TeenHollywood: What do you listen to for fun?

Mario: Everything. I listen to hip hop, R&B, rock. I love Gwen Stefani, Shakira, Beyonce, Green Day, they're one of my favorite bands. We did a couple of shows in Europe last year together.

TeenHollywood: What actress or actors are you dying to work with?

Mario: Salma Hayek. Dying to work with Will Smith, Brad Pitt. Somebody with style. I love Jessica Alba. Her personality seems so real and dope. As far as the mature women, Angela Bassett, Jada Pinkett. You know who made a great transformation to films is J.Lo.

TeenHollywood: Is collaborating with Linkin Park something you want to do?

Mario: Absolutely. There's a time in an artist's career where it's right to do those collaborations. Traveling the world helps you understand where another artist is coming from in their music. Whereas right now I might not be able to relate that much to Green Day's music, maybe two or three years from now, when I've experienced much more, I'll be able to. There's a time when those paths will cross and that will happen.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.