March 02, 2005 - Take a moment to roll the name Christina Milian around on your tongue. Say it out loud a few times, maybe whisper it at first, then deliver it in a normal conversational tone, then shout it out at the top of your lungs. Why? Because soon enough you'll be hearing that name. Trust me. While she may still be a somewhat unknown commodity here in the States, Christina Milian is a major star overseas, especially in Japan, Europe, and portions of South America. Sadly that's where her self-titled debut album was widely released despite the fact that the young singer had burst out of the gate on the 2000 chart-topping Ja Rule single "Between Me and You" and had penned the J-Lo hit "Play." Even though other debatably talented femme fatales of pop were rising with Phoenix like glory around her, Milian kept her cool and bade her time working on her sophomore effort as well as taking turns in front of the camera.

In her latest big screen role, that of fledgling singer Linda Moon in Be Cool, Milian co-stars with Outkast's Andre 3000, plus sings a couple of songs in the film, one entitled "Believe" written by Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas and one called "Ain't No Reason" written by Alicia Keys. "I really pushed myself in the studio," Milian confesses. "When you have Alicia Keys singing a demo [of the song you're expected to sing in the movie] and you're listening to it, it's like 'Okay, I really want to do it at the same level that she would do.' And the fact that she had written this, I wouldn't want her to listen to it and be like 'This is crap.' And on top of that it's going to be in a movie! There's going to be millions of people who are gonna see this film, so I've gotta prove myself now."

The film is like art imitating life imitating art given that one of the main storylines traces the rise of Moon under the tutelage of Chili Palmer (John Travolta reprising his role from Get Shorty). The similarities between the character of Moon and Milian in real life are not far-fetched in the least given her still relative obscurity amongst the American pop maelstrom. "I'm not there yet," she says with a laugh. "That's why I was perfect for the role."

Speaking of which, over the years Milian has been offered her share of singer oriented roles, most of which she has turned down. "I get a lot of different scripts all the time to play a singer in a movie," she sighs. "It's like everybody is trying to remake A Star Is Born, which can be done well, but it can be cheesy, too. Most of the time, when I get offered those kind of roles I turn them down, because as an actress I want to be taken seriously and keep the music separate. But when I heard about Be Cool and when I heard F. Gary Gray was directing it, I've always wanted to work with him. So I went to audition. I sang two songs a cappella; a gospel song and then they asked everyone to sing "I Will Always Love You,"" she pauses, drops her voice down to a whisper and adds with a smile, "which I hate." Returning to a normal voice she continues "That's one of those typical karaoke songs. I was like 'You guys really want me to sing this song? Okay, I'm gonna sing it!'"