I recently had the opportunity to sit down with three of the stars of the new film “Step Up.” Drew Sidora, Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum are new to the industry, but are on the fast track for success.

Drew Sidora, who plays Lucy, is a Chicago native who is a singer/songwriter, dancer and actress. Before landing her role in “Step Up,” she had appearances in multiple television shows including a recurring role on “That’s So Raven.” Her film credits include “Divas,” “Never Die Alone” and “White Chicks.”

Sidora was living in Chicago when she heard about “Step Up.” Without even an agent to represent her, Sidora sent in a tape to the casting department at Disney. “I sent in a tape of me singing ‘For The Love’ as well as reading some scenes. Two days later they called me and flew me out to L.A.,” recalled Sidora. She was cast as Nora’s best friend and even managed to have two of her original songs, “For The Love” and “‘Til The Dawn,” end up on the film’s soundtrack.

Sidora describes Lucy as “sassy and sophisticated,” but says that her favorite aspect of her character is that “she’s very loyal and real.”

Sidora said that she was attracted to the film because she wanted to be part of what she calls “a love story told through dance.”

Sidora has studied music and theatre since the age of two, trained in the Suzuki Method of classical piano for six years and trained for the stage at the Organic Theater in Chicago.

Another aspect of the movie that attracted her to the role was director Anne Fletcher’s insistence that all the roles would be filled with people who could actually do what was required of them, whether it be singing or dancing: no stunt or voice doubles would be used.

“When I heard about the movie, I was like ‘hold on, this is so me!’” Sidora recalled. “You know to be able to show both sides of myself being a singer and coming from that background, being introduced. Because this is my first starring role, so for a lot of people to see that I’m a singer and an actress was a lot for me. It was important. It was a one in a million type role.”

Her favorite scene in the film involves Sidora onstage performing in a club with her co-star Mario. “That wasn’t lip-synching at all! That was real singing with real musicians,” affirmed Sidora.

On working with Mario, an R&B superstar turned actor, Sidora said “he is one of the most talented male vocalists.” As a musician, dancer and actress Sidora feels that having the right people for the roles made “it easier and I think more people can relate to us a little more. It’s just a real authentic film.”

Sidora’s next film “Wild Hogs” stars John Travolta, Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence in which she will play Lawrence’s reckless teenage daughter.

Sidora is preparing to begin shooting a break-dancing film called “B Girl” for which she will also supply music. Her solo album is “80 percent there” she said. To find out more about Drew Sidora, check out her MySpace profile, www.myspace.com/drewsidora.

Much like Sidora, Jenna Dewan is new to Hollywood. The twenty six year old actress who stars opposite Channing Tatum as Nora has been dancing since childhood, “I’ve been dancing since I was five.”

Dewan was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up in Dallas. She studied at the University of Southern California and currently resides in Los Angeles. She has appeared in numerous music videos and toured with P. Diddy and Janet Jackson before getting into acting.

Dewan was recently seen in Liz Friedlander's debut film "Take the Lead" opposite Antonio Banderas and Alfre Woodard where she stole the show with her exhilarating performance of the tango.

“Step Up,” however, is her first leading role in a major motion picture. “Shooting the movie was a dream come true in so many ways and a lot of fun,” said Dewan. “We all got along so well and the cast was unbelievable, the director was unbelievable.”

Dewan was attracted to the story of “Step Up,” “I like that it’s about two worlds coming together, and how Tyler and Nora really wind up teaching each other lessons.”

Dewan explained that the role seemed tailor-made for her, “I was so drawn to Nora because it really couldn't be written any more like me as a 15 year-old. I was Nora,” she said. “I was a true diehard about dancing. That was all I ever really wanted to do. I had that same passion – and I really didn't know what would happen if I couldn't go and pursue it.”

Like Nora, Dewan said that she has “always kind of jumped into things fearlessly.” This ability to take on new things has enabled Dewan to try on a variety of roles and characters.

When asked how she is able to adapt to the various characters she plays she responded, “Acting kind of happened. It happened as a fluke actually, it wasn’t something I went after. I learned that every movie is literally like a project. You approach it like you would a project and say ‘Okay. Who is this character?’ Through all your research, you get into character, for that month or those couple of weeks you are completely that person and then it’s done and then you leave it. And then it’s the strangest thing and then you get the next movie. So it was like that when I did ‘Tamara,’ it was a complete departure from myself, you know I’m not a blood-thirsty villain so I really had a lot of work cut out for me. You know, it was an independent film and I dove into it and got into character and studied. The next one, ‘Take the Lead,’ was totally different. I did the same. It just kind of happens. You know acting is truly therapy so you get to work out different types of issues that you have.”

Once Dewan landed the role of Nora, she had her work cut out for her. “It was very demanding. I learned a lot of dances, a lot of different techniques, a lot of different choreography and partnering with Channing who had never partnered before, much less done choreography. So, you know there was a lot of work but overall but it was just as much work as I probably would have done on a dance show with Janet or something like that. It was equal but it was so much to have to learn to work with the other person and create a dance partner, it’s very important. You have to have chemistry as a dance group and dance partner because that’s what makes you want to dance not just doing the steps.”

The chemistry was there for Tatum and Dewan. “When we met we instantly became good friends and we really bonded,” Dewan said. “It was an easy relationship to create with each other. Sometimes you get onto a film and the actors you like but it takes a little time to get to the other person, but Channing and myself were really, really similar so we had a lot in common. The chemistry just kind of came on its own.”

In comparison to other dance-based films, Dewan regards “Step Up” as being “very different.” She expounded, “It has a realistic tone, it’s not a cheesy dance movie tone. It’s got a really good love story, you get swept away by the characters. It’s been said there are like ten plots out there and every movie just keeps getting recycled, all the movies have the same thing. But when you can bring something inventive and new and done well, who cares if it’s been done before because you actually love watching it. You walk away being moved and having inspiration and that’s the only reason why I’m in this business.”

Dewan’s next major foray into acting is her role in “The Grudge 2” in which she will play a cheerleader who is the “queen bee of the high school.” For more information on Jenna Dewan visit www.myspace.com/jennadewan.

Channing Tatum was the first actor cast in “Step Up.” The search for the actor who would play Tyler caused some anxiety for the producers. The movie hinges on the role, and they knew it would be a challenge to find someone with all of the desired qualities. They were looking for someone who would be charismatic yet troubled; tough but likable; hard-edged but romantic; and an untrained but amazing dancer: they found him in Tatum.

Tatum was born and raised in Cullum, Alabama. Unlike his female counterparts in “Step Up,” Tatum did not take dance classes in his childhood. He was an athlete and a troublemaker in his teenage years, and his experiences helped him relate to and ultimately get the part of Tyler Gage.

After modeling for two years, Tatum moved into the world of acting. “It’s so much more fulfilling,” Tatum said of acting. “You know modeling is not good, you know it was fun, you got to travel a lot, but you don’t really get to put any of yourself into it. You put on the clothes they tell you to and then get whatever look that they want and that’s pretty much it. But I’m not saying anything bad about because it pretty much afforded me the opportunity to go after something that I’ve found out that I’m infatuated with and that I love. It’s opened doors for me. Thank God my genetics my parents gave me have afforded me those opportunities so I never say that it was an awful experience.”

He first appeared on screen in two commercials for Mountain Dew in 2002. His brief but high energy role caught the attention of industry executives, and he began taking acting classes at the Dena Levy Acting Studio.

In 2004, he had his first guest appearance on a television show with a role on an episode of “CSI: Miami.” In 2005, he starred in “Havoc” opposite Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon Levitt and then in “Coach Carter” with Samuel L. Jackson. That same year, he starred as motor-cross superstar Rowdy Sparks in the film “Supercross,” and shot the lead role in the WB pilot, “The Prince” for director Gavin O’Connor.

Tatum recently received critical praise in Sundance for his powerful role in the independent film, “Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.” The film won the Special Jury Prize for best ensemble performance as well as the dramatic directing award for Dito Montiel at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. In an article recapping the Sundance Film Festival, Rolling Stone stated, “keep your eyes on newcomer Channing Tatum as Dito’s loose-cannon friend Antonio. Shirtless and oozing physical and sexual threat, Tatum stalks his turf like Brando in ‘Streetcar.’”

Earlier this year Tatum starred alongside Amanda Bynes in the comedy “She’s The Man.” His roles have been almost exclusively athletic in nature, and that did not change with “Step Up.”

Although Tatum has been dancing for years, he was completely without formal training, much like his character. He grew up renting films like “Breakin’” and “Beat Street” and said he would “put down some cardboard in the garage” to try out his moves.

Producer Erik Feig describes Tatum’s dancing as moving “like water. There's no other way I can explain it. He is just so fluid and exciting to watch.”

His lack of professional training was a challenge for Tatum going into “Step Up.” “It was tough, Jenna’s been dancing her whole life, but I had never. I couldn’t even count music. I had no idea they could count it like dance, no clue,” said Tatum. “We got to have three weeks of preparation for it which made us pretty ready for the most part.”

“One of the days right before we started the big finale, we trained for three and a half weeks on that big finale and it was like a four minute dance. We hadn’t rehearsed it while we were shooting [the movie]. It got to the day before we started shooting [the dance finale] and I had forgotten the majority of it and I was panicking and thinking ‘I’ve just ruined this movie because I wasn’t practicing.’ We didn’t even think about it, we were just thinking about the movie and acting and rehearsing and writing the movie as you go and stuff,” recalled Tatum. But when all was said and done Tatum felt it went well: “I think we got it pretty good.”

A unique thing about “Step Up” is that each of the leading characters felt that their roles had been custom made for them. Tatum was no exception to this, “Except for being a foster kid, Tyler was pretty much me. I had absolutely no idea of what I wanted to do. As soon as I came back from playing ball I had no idea of what I wanted to do. I tried going back to school, it wasn’t something I even understood why I was going. I thought, ‘I don’t understand why I’m in this class, I don’t want to do anything in math. I know the basics that’s all I really want.’ Now when I get out I kind of understand why you have to do that.”

Tatum’s next project comes from director Kimberly Pierce. The yet to be titled project will likely be called “Stop-Loss.” “Stop-Loss is a clause in every soldier’s contract that, in time of war, the government reserves the right to renew the contract or send you back. These guys get back, they think their contract is going to be up and they go back to get their papers and get informed that they’re being sent out,” explained Tatum. In his new film, “this guy invests all his money in a gas station, you know like a truck stop. And he invests all his money and they send him back. It’s a really, really heavy movie.”

Although Tatum is becoming recognized as a talent publicly as well as in the realm of Hollywood and he is being offered more film roles, he says that the roles he wants “aren’t being given.” “The thing that you actually want is at a level you still have to work for. And that’s the way I like it, you don’t ever just want to do just what’s given to you because...that's what I think the problem with a lot of huge actors is, they don’t audition anymore. So they are given these roles and there’s probably…I would never want that,” said Tatum.

Rather he would prefer to always audition for roles, “I would never want to be just given a role when someone else can play it better. I know it’s weird to say that but I think I’m always going to end up auditioning because in auditioning you find out so much about the character.”

In speaking of future projects Tatum says he would like to do something that involves history, “I love history. It was my favorite subject in school because it was just stories, you know? But the real life stories are the best ones. You can write all the fiction you want to but the real ones are always the best.”

“Step Up” is in theaters nation wide.

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