Cassie Ventura: Takin' it 2 the Streets!

Popular, 21-year-old R&B singer Cassie Ventura first entered show biz as a teen model while still in high school in her native Connecticut. Music producer Ryan Leslie zoned in on Cassie at a club and signed her to his label. Her hit single "Me & U", co-written by Leslie, went to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart in 2005.

After appearing in music videos for Kanye and Mario, Cassie was ready to make the leap to film. She plays Sophie, a posh music student at the Maryland School of the Arts in the Step Up sequel film Step Up 2 The Streets all while recording her second album due out this summer.

We wondered what the singer/actress's plans are now and found out all about her first screen kiss (with a 15-year-old!), her dance moves in the film, all about jealous boyfriends and her dating preferences. For our sit-down in Beverly Hills, Cassie was casual chic in royal blue silk tunic tee over a white tee and jeans. A white silk scarf, her diamond cross and heart pendants and white nail polish finished off the coordinated look. Let's chat...

TeenHollywood: Was it a challenge for you to play this role? The character Sophie goes through a few changes.

Cassie: It was definitely a challenge. When Jon [Chu, the director] brought the script to me there were a couple of characters that we were playing around with. He was like 'I really think that you could make this character you own and have fun with it'. I wanted to take the challenge and the turnaround actually happened while we were filming the movie. I don't know if she was going to become a good guy at the end or not but she did so I'm glad she did. I didn't want kids to hate me at the end [she laughs].

TeenHollywood: How did the project come to you?

Cassie: Touchstone and the director and producers contacted my label which was really mind-blowing and nerve-wracking to me and then I auditioned with Jamal Sims, the choreographer and then did a call back for that.

TeenHollywood: Do you want to continue acting?

Cassie: I do, I definitely want to. I've been auditioning for a few movies here and there. I don't want anything to get in the way of my music but so far, it hasn't really gotten in the way. I've been doing two things at once so we'll see what happens.

TeenHollywood: How did you develop your character Sophie?

Cassie: I think, working with Jon Chu, I got to mold my character not around myself, necessarily because I'm not really like her at all but, she's a triple threat; she's gifted and determined. I was like that in high school. I tried to be the best at everything. I did musical theater and I did dancing at the performing arts high school that I went to. I went to a school on scholarship. I think when you're on scholarship you always work a tad harder than the next person. But, I was modeling during high school so I was doing a little bit of everything.

TeenHollywood: You look exotic. What is your ethnicity?

Cassie: My dad is Filipino and my mom is Latin and West Indian.

TeenHollywood: In this film you sort of play a jealous ex-girlfriend. Have you even been one or have you ever had to deal with a jealous ex-girlfriend?

Cassie: I think both [laughs]. I think everybody's been the jealous ex-girlfriend before. I never wanted to sabotage but I've had a jealous ex-boyfriend too. I think everybody experiences that.

TeenHollywood: Could you go for the nerdy younger guy in real life?

Cassie: Yeah, I like the nerdy guys. Well, I'm 21 and he's [Adam Sevani who plays her boyfriend in the movie] 15 in real life so that was a little weird [laughing]

TeenHollywood: Then how was the kissing scene?

Cassie: There was so much going on and it was raining, it didn't really phase us too much. I was more nervous than Adam probably was. It was a first kissing scene [for both of us]. We did a few takes. I think that he messed up a few times on purpose but I don't know. [laughs]

TeenHollywood: What was it like growing up for you?

Cassie: I'm from Connecticut. My mom is an Army brat. My dad's a Navy brat and it was fun. My parents are still together. I tried a little bit of everything when I was little. I tried karate, ballet, piano lessons and singing lessons; a pretty normal kid for the most part.

TeenHollywood: When did you first start singing?

Cassie: When I was pretty young. I didn't really take it seriously until high school when I started doing musical theater and I had the opportunity to meet with some producers in New York through an agent I had through modeling. I was fifteen or sixteen. We did compilation stuff in school like 'Sweeney Todd'. We never did full on musicals. Nobody wanted to be part of our group [laughs]. There were like five of us.

TeenHollywood: Why do you think young people enjoy this sort of movie so much?

Cassie: Just because they're fun and there's always a message that's fun, good and relatable to kids and their parents aren't mad when they're watching it because there is some values and morals. "High School Musical" came in on the younger side but it's huge!

TeenHollywood: Are you the one person in the cast who didn't have a dance background?

Cassie: I had a little bit. Not nearly as much as anyone else.

TeenHollywood: Was it fun to learn or hard?

Cassie: It was definitely fun. I got to work with my personal choreographer on some of the stuff.

TeenHollywood: Did this inspire you to want to do more with dance?

Cassie: It definitely has. The dancing is incredible. I want everyone in the movie to do well. It definitely inspired me to want to do more dancing.

TeenHollywood: Are you working on anything with your music right now?

Cassie: I'm working on my second album right now. We just finished up the first single and the album should be out in June.

TeenHollywood: Are you going to tour?

Cassie: I hope so. We're definitely going to do a promo tour and I'm going overseas.

TeenHollywood: How will this album be different from the last?

Cassie: The last album, I worked with one producer, Ryan Leslie and that experience was definitely a lot of fun but I wanted to experience a lot of different people this time around and last time, also, I recorded my album in a month or less and, so far, I've been working on this album for a year so I've spent more time with it. I've gotten to work with some great people from Rodney Jerkins to Kanye West and Brian-Michael Cox.. there's so many great producers and writers on the project.

TeenHollywood: What is your song called "Thirsty" about?

Cassie: That was one of the first songs I recorded last year with Eric Hudson and Cory Williams wrote it. Kanye told me that it's slang in Chicago. "That guy's thirsty". I wanted to go for a sound kind of like old-school Janet when she was on Janet self-titled and 'Velvet Rope'; a feel like that.

TeenHollywood: Did you get any input on which of your songs ended up on the soundtrack for Step Up 2 The Streets?

Cassie: I spent about a month out here in L.A. recording, when they approached us and asked if we had anything to submit for the soundtrack. I said 'I have this perfect song'. 'Is It You?' is a completely different song for me. It's very young for me actually but it was cool.

TeenHollywood: If you want to keep acting and music separate, would you play a singer?

Cassie: I don't think the scene made it where I sing the song from the soundtrack in the film 'Is It You?' We tried to make it so that it wasn't Cassie the artist doing it and I think they took it out. I'm kind of happy about that. It's hard to differentiate, especially when there are young kids watching it. They're gonna always think 'oh, that's Cassie on screen' but I don't want it to always be like that so I'd rather not take the part of a singer.

TeenHollywood: Which artist was the biggest inspiration for you?

Cassie: Janet is definitely a big inspiration to me, Aaliyah; her sound and her tone is one of my favorites of all time.

TeenHollywood: Are you still recording your album?

Cassie: I am. I'm still recording. I'm going to go back to Miami in March. We have the first single and I'm working on the rest. It's probably 75 percent done.

TeenHollywood: What kind of music do you like to listen to?

Cassie: Lupe Fiasco's new album is really, really good. That's my new favorite album. The-Dream has a good album. I always listen to old school Janet, Feist, Shiny Toy Guns. I like some alternative music too.

TeenHollywood: Do you have any time to see movies? What do you like to watch?

Cassie: I just saw 27 Dresses. I like fun movies like that but No Country for Old Men was a great movie. I like movies like that. I just saw Juno which is a great film.

TeenHollywood: What do you do really well in life and what really badly?

Cassie: [laughs] I'm really bad at board games. I'm really good at the piano but I don't play as often as I probably should.

TeenHollywood: What do you do when you get a break in your busy schedule?

Cassie: I'm probably sleeping. Any time I get to hang out with my friends.. I don't have very many. I have two best friends that live in New York, who are models who, when they get time off, it's just great that we can all hang out with each other. We spend time taking little vacations to Las Vegas. [laughs]

TeenHollywood: Do you sometimes feel that, with the spotlight on you, you can't live a normal life?

Cassie: The funny thing is, I've met more people now than I ever did before. But, it's hard to meet new friends. I was fortunate to find the friends I have now before things started happening for me. But, It's hard to find friends in the industry, definitely.

TeenHollywood: What is your idea of the perfect thing to do on a date?

Cassie: [her manager is in the room and says 'shopping'] Shopping??!![laughs] Yeah, on my credit card. No, I like to do weird, fun stuff like paintball or lasertag. Something that takes the seriousness off of it.

TeenHollywood: What are you looking forward to doing filmwise in future?

Cassie: When I have more experience and take some acting classes, I want to do an indie film really badly. I want to do something a little grittier with an edge when the time is appropriate. Right now I have so many young fans that I don't want to divert the attention away from what they are excited about.

***

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