I got into movies when , one day, I was walking to my job as a hairdresser in Manhattan. The director Luc Besson's assistant stopped me - Luc had seen me walking down the street and sent her after me - and asked if I had modelled or acted. I had tried acting in Russia when I was eight or nine, but not since then. She took my phone number and when she called later on she asked me to try some lessons. Luc got more involved in the lessons, and eventually asked me to come to Paris to an audition. A week later, I was signing the contract to work on my first movie.
Being a Russian in America has almost given me two different lives. I was born in St Petersburg in 1985, during a very hard time for Russia, and my family moved to New York when I was 17. Russia is such a different environment, especially at school. It's all about being tough and that made me strong. But in America, I learned how to smile.
Working in France was hard , because I had so much to learn with the script for Transporter 3 that I couldn't really learn French as well. Luckily, the whole crew could speak English very well. Luc guided me, explained a lot of things and made me feel comfortable.
Valentina, my character in the movie, is really feisty. She's very young, she's just finished college and doesn't want to give up on having fun. She lives life in full colour. Obviously, there are some scenes where I disagree with what she's doing - like the vodka and pills. But I guess some people in dangerous situations lose control and just want to enjoy themselves.
I do yoga to relax. I get up at six in the morning and come home at one, but I always make time for yoga.
My first sexual scenes as an actress were with Jason Statham, the lead in Transporter 3. He was the first actor I'd worked with seriously, so it was daunting. It's hard to create romantic feelings that run through the whole story, but he gave me a lot of tips, and relaxed me with his jokes.
I've done acting in reverse - my first job was this giant production, and now I'm doing smaller theatre work. It's very different from movies, so I'm still learning to be a theatrical actress. Right now I'm focusing on getting more experience.
Interview by Sean Bell Transporter 3 is released on DVD tomorrow
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