TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online
Festival To Honor Actress As Rising Star
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Published: March 2, 2008
TAMPA - Here's something you don't expect about becoming a Hollywood star: It's hard to get chain food.
"I want to go to Olive Garden so badly," said Brittany Snow, and she's not joking. "You can't get that in Los Angeles; you have to drive far out in the suburbs to find chains. You have to go all the way to Burbank."
Or Tampa. That's where the 21-year-old actress will be tonight, receiving a Rising Star award from the Gasparilla Film Festival. She said she'll be here a few days and wouldn't mind hitting, say, Outback Steakhouse or Chili's while in town.
Obviously, Snow has lost a page of the young star script. "Hollywood star craves Olive Garden" is hardly going to make headlines. That requires shocking or difficult behavior. Snow knows.
"It can be hard out here. There are a lot of ways to get in trouble if you are a young actress," Snow said in a recent telephone interview from her home in Los Angeles. "I'm just the kind of girl who wants to focus on what she wants and not blow it all by doing something stupid."
At a news conference in February announcing the festival lineup, president Eric Odum said Snow had been selected for the award - to be presented at a special ceremony at The Florida Aquarium - because of her success in both television and film. Snow is someone young actors can emulate, he said.
"That's so weird," said Snow. "Getting this award, I feel so awkward about it. I don't think I've 'made it' at all. I feel like I would have to be at a Michelle Pfeiffer level before I get any kind of award. I'm just really grateful that they thought I was worth it."
Certainly, Snow is worthy of "local girl makes good" recognition. The Carrollwood native - she went every year to Arigato's for her birthday - still has grandparents and her father in the area.
"I only get back to Tampa two or three times a year now," she said. "I wish I could get back more."
As a 12-year-old, Snow landed a job playing Susan Lemay on "The Guiding Light," appearing in nine episodes between 1998 and 2001.
Her big break came at 15 when she won the starring role in NBC's "American Dreams," which ran for 61 episodes from 2002-05. Snow attended her sophomore year at Gaither High School. She then moved to Los Angeles and earned her high school diploma with tutors on the set.
Although it was a wonderful opportunity, Snow said the television schedule can be a "grind." On some days, "I was literally running from the set back to my trailer to study," she said.
An advantage of working in film is that it offers a more leisurely pace. It also has afforded Snow the opportunity to work with John Travolta, Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Beverly D'Angelo, Laurence Fishburne and director Tony Kaye.
Snow says her role as Ariel Alderman on the cable series "Nip/Tuck" was one of the most important of her career. Playing against expectations, she portrayed a racist who in one episode paints a Nativity scene to make all the figures in it white.
"I wanted to show people that I could play something other than the naïve, wide-eyed innocent from the 1960s," Snow said, referring to the Meg Pryor character from "American Dreams." "I try to pick roles that might not be what people expect from me.
"I don't want to do the same kind of roles over and over. I want to be a little bit scared when I come to work each day."
Snow's most recent role was Amber Von Tussle in the movie musical "Hairspray." Her next film, coming out in April, is "Prom Night." It's a horror film about a teacher who stalks a student at her prom. Snow notes the film is rated PG-13, so it's less "a gory, blood-and-guts horror movie" and more of a psychological thriller.
She already has filmed "Black Water Transit," which is the first movie by Kaye since "American History X." Snow plays a prostitute as part of an ensemble cast in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. And she will play the lead in "Finding Amanda," about a man (Matthew Broderick) attempting to convince his niece (Snow) to enter rehab.
"That's the great thing about acting; you can delve into the psychology of all these different characters," Snow said. "I mean, obviously, I'm not a prostitute, for instance, but to play that sort of character, to get inside that character, it's the part of acting that is really the most interesting to me."
Still, even a rising star could use the consistency certain dining establishments offer.
"The tradition has usually been that my grandparents take me somewhere like Outback after they pick me up at the airport," said Snow, laughing. "I'm hoping that happens this time, too."
FESTIVAL AWARDS
WHEN: 7:30 tonight
WHERE: The Florida Aquarium, 701 Channelside Drive, Tampa
TICKETS: $150
Kevin Walker can be reached at (813) 259-7975 or kwalker@tampatrib.com
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