Celebrity Dialogue is the brilliant index to the latest interviews and news with major celebrities from film, music, television and sports, as well as leading politicians, journalists and business people.

October 11th, 2012

Christine Solomon - Photo by Efren Beltran

Award-winning actress, Christine Solomon is of Egyptian, Syrian and Lebanese ethnicity. She was born in Egypt and raised in Montreal from the age of seven. She is truly an international star; a member of the Egyptian Actor’s Union, Actra and UDA, she has performed in a wide range of productions across Canada, the United States and Egypt.

CelebrityDialogue: How did you get into acting?
Christine: I started acting at the tender age of five performing at several theaters in Egypt. After my family made the transition to come to Canada, I started competing in modeling and touring across Quebec with a theatre troop. I then decided to take my career to the next level by enrolling myself in theatre school. The rest is history.

CelebrityDialogue: Where was your upcoming film “Betroit” shot?
Christine: The film was shot in Detroit and Beirut.

CelebrityDialogue: What is the theme of the film?
Christine: It’s about love and family. The film’s theme revolves around three couples as their lives become intertwined with one another. The film addresses issues of domestic violence, culture, love and relationships between both the American and the Middle Eastern culture. The subject of the film is very raw and real, it will surely captivate the audience.

CelebrityDialogue: Who are the people behind this project?
Christine: Betroit was directed and written by established Lebanese director Adel Serhan.

October 1st, 2012

Roxy's  comedy is  refreshingly original. Men and women love her take on dating , life and shopping.  She is a regular at The World Famous Comedy Store, has performed at the Improv, Laugh Factory,  The Ice House, and been on tour all over the US.

CelebrityDialogue: Why stand-up comedy?
Roxy: Honestly, I never thought I would be a stand-up when I was a kid. I was a writer and an actor.  I got the lead in every school Christmas play and thought I would be acting in plays or movies.  Either that, or I would be a Doctor or Lawyer.  I was a Straight A+ student and figured I would go to Harvard or Yale or Oxford if I could get to the UK. 
My parents were divorced when I was very young and we moved around after that- a lot.  I always had at least two jobs so that I could afford to buy clothes.  I was a Life- Guard and Swimming Instructor in Florida for many years.  Without guidance, I just didn’t even know where to begin applying for Ivy League Schools and had no idea how to pay for them.
A teacher of mine in High School recommended I apply at a small college.  I did and I got a theatre scholarship that was good for one year to La Grange Speech Communication and Theatre College in Georgia. They had a brilliant theatre program.   It was there that I began doing Stand-up.  Another actress produced a show called:  “Lost Comedy” and asked me to do a set in it.  I remember being terrified.  I didn’t write jokes! I wrote poetry and stories.  But she convinced me I could do it and I wound up making people laugh and getting told so the next day in the cafeteria.  I was hooked.  Although I still thought of myself as an actor, I began performing stand-up when I left college and continued to do it.

CelebrityDialogue: How difficult is it to make people laugh?
Roxy: In the beginning, it wasn’t so easy.  I did a lot of “selling” my material with big dramatic gestures.  As I grew as a comedian, I realized that the punch-lines were the key (Duh!).  I began toning down my performance and focusing on writing.  I still wouldn’t say it is easy.  One does need to write a clever joke.  And one must have timing.  If you can get those two things conquered, then the rest is just really being in communication with and controlling the direction of the crowd’s thinking.  When you master these things, the comedy itself isn’t work any more.  It’s fun.
Even as a professional, a comic can still get heckled.  That’s my weak point.  I don’t have come-backs for everything an audience member could throw at me.  I try to make my jokes so funny that nobody interrupts me.  I know comics who could do an hour of handling hecklers and win.  This comes from having toured the world so many times and filing away a repertoire of lines to handle hecklers.  It’s amazing to watch.  But when someone is that good, at that point, they aren’t even thinking about it.  They just automatically pull up the correct response in their mind.  I admire that.

CelebrityDialogue: How do you motivate yourself if sometimes people don’t laugh at your jokes?
Roxy: A-hem.  That just doesn’t happen, so I have no idea!
Just kidding!  Every comic has a night when they are “off” or it’s just not working.  Hopefully, by then you have enough material to switch to something that will work in that room with that crowd.  There isn’t any “Special” motivator, really, you just want to assess your crowd and do your job and it’s because you love it.

June 3rd, 2012

Kristine is based in Los Angeles and she is a professional Film and Television screen actress, model and trained dancer.
She has trained with top screen, theatre, improvisation acting tutors and leading casting directors in various countries across the globe.Kristine has worked on television, commercials, music videos, film, short films and theater for many years.

CelebrityDialogue: Where are you based these days, New Zealand or the United States?
Kristine: I am based in the USA.

CelebrityDialogue: Is your “unique” look an advantage in getting you roles globally?
Kristine: Back in New Zealand and Australia my look was never “in”. Over here it has worked tremendously for me. I have such a huge range of ambiguity that it has worked in my favor. People seem to appreciate it here.

CelebrityDialogue: How did you start your career in the entertainment industry in New Zealand?
Kristine: I started acting and dancing when I was seven years old just to kill school boredom. In middle school I ended up in a class that did all the daily school news presentation and I was taught how to run a TV studio. I never took it seriously and I never thought those skills would become a career. After school I became a hairdresser/makeup artist. My first on set makeup didn’t turn out to be good and I was so confused that I thought that if this was how film and TV makeup worked, then I would quit.  Eventually I did quit. After that, a friend enrolled me in drama school without my knowledge and from there I landed an agent and worked in body doubling for a while until I landed acting roles and left for overseas to gain degrees. Then I realized that I really liked acting and it all happened from there as I started taking this profession more seriously. For some reason, my whole life kept leading me straight back to acting. It is as if I was meant to be in this business.