Possessing crack comedic timing, beauty and yet still a sympathetic visage and demeanor, Lindsay Sloane exudes girl-next-door goodness, a quality which has kept her steadily employed in a variety of mostly sunny roles in both movies and television. It’s exactly these traits which writer-directors Peter Hyuck and Alex Gregory wished to deploy in subversive manner by casting Sloane in their bawdy comedy “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy,” just out on DVD last week. ShockYa had a chance to sit down and chat with Sloane about the uniquely titled ensemble movie, as well as her off-screen thoughts on its subject matter and what exactly the “orgy cut-off number” is that makes her uncomfortable. The…

Elizabeth Mitchell is the sort of actress whose statuesque beauty (she’s 5’9″) has allowed her to be cast both by and against type. She made out with Angelina Jolie in the HBO movie “Gia,” made a much more unsettling impression in Wayne Kramer’s creepy “Running Scared,” and then enjoyed a healthy run as Juliet Burke on the small screen smash hit “Lost.” She’s now moved on to “V,” and is also part of the ensemble cast of writer-director Matthew Leutwyler’s “Answers To Nothing,” in which she plays a woman trying to get pregnant with a husband (Dane Cook) that she doesn’t know is cheating on her. ShockYa recently had a chance…

A story of remarkable devotion and incredible spousal support and understanding, director Luc Besson’s “The Lady” stars Michelle Yeoh as Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically elected leader of Burma who spent years imprisoned by her native country’s military junta. While Yeoh is better known for the sort of physicality she’s put on display in more straightforward genre films, “The Lady” showcases her quiet side, to often heartrending effect. ShockYa recently had a chance to speak to Yeoh one-on-one in person, about her exacting research for the movie, the challenges of embodying a well known public figure, and more. The conversation is excerpted below: ShockYa: Thank you for your time. Is…

Julie Benz has been dead for a couple years now – well, to a lot of people who follow “Dexter” religiously. Thankfully, in real life, the 39-year-old actress has kept busy even after her shocking fourth-season offing from the hit Showtime series, popping up in roles on “Desperate Housewives” and “No Ordinary Family,” amongst other projects. In writer-director Matthew Leutwyler’s new film, “Answers To Nothing,” she plays Frankie, a hard-charging Los Angeles police investigator working to solve a case involving a missing little girl. ShockYa recently had a chance to sit down and talk to Benz one-on-one, about “Answers To Nothing” and the extremely short preparation time she had for the project…

Odette Annable (formerly Yustman) has escaped from an otherworldly beast, in “Cloverfield,” but finds herself dealing with another larger-than-life personality, opposite Hugh Laurie in the eighth season of “House.” ShockYa recently had a chance to speak to Annable one-on-one, about the hit Fox series; her new film “The Double,” with Topher Grace; memories from “Kindergarten Cop” and “Cloverfield;” and more. The conversation is excerpted below: ShockYa: So you’re shooting “House,” but also commited to “Breaking In,” is that right? Odette Annable: Yes, it’s a very busy time for me. I’m not used to being quite this busy, but it’s a great time for me as well. It was one of those weird…

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s stylish output is such that he’s almost a genre to himself. His latest movie, “The Skin I Live In,” is not only his first film with star Antonio Banderas in many years, but it also marks a certain return to provocative form, so deliciously warped are its plot pivots. At the core of it, though, is a stirring performance from Elena Anaya, who plays Vera, the mysterious captive of Banderas’ rich surgeon, Dr. Robert Ledgard. Revelations about the depth and nature of their relationship are a big part of what drive the movie, but it suffices to say that Vera’s situation is rife with layered trauma, making for a…

She’s played opposite a wide and diverse range of leading men, from Ralph Fiennes and Daniel Day-Lewis to Geoffrey Rush and Adam Sandler, and is equally at home in wrenching dramas or comedies of manners. It’s perhaps a testament to her talents, though, that Emily Watson remains just to the left of indistinctive for most mainstream audiences — not unexceptional or anonymous, but unable to be immediately placed. In her latest film, Watson again gives voice to a remarkable yet “ordinary” woman, starring in “Oranges and Sunshine” as Margaret Humphreys, a Nottingham social worker who uncovers a decades-long program of forced deportation/immigration which sent tens of thousands of children from…

A big talent in a little package, singer and actress Mya has made her name in a variety of fields, from platinum albums to placing second on the ninth season of the hit show “Dancing With the Stars.” ShockYa recently had a chance to talk one-on-one to the 32-year-old multi-hyphenate, about the new-to-DVD romantic comedy “The Heart Specialist,” her thoughts on sex tapes (celebrity and otherwise), her view of changes to the music industry over the past decade, and what she’s doing with her free time. The conversation is excerpted below: ShockYa: It’s hard for me to believe that your first album was released more than a decade ago. [In that…

Rachel Nichols is an actress, a former model, a sports fan, a foodie, a frequent traveler and an avid Twitterer. She is not, however, a reporter for ESPN given to undue amounts of hand gesticulations while talking. Well… that’s Rachel Nichols, too, actually. But a different one. The real Rachel Nichols — genuinely easygoing, and possessing of a developed personality of someone much uglier — is more apt to have names for her hands. Her latest project is the independent-minded “A Bird of the Air,” in which she plays a free-spirited librarian, Fiona, who upends the life of a solitary loner, Lyman (Jackson Hurst), when she takes it upon herself to help him track…

Of all the major cast members for the new ensemble comedy “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy,” about a mixed-gender group of longtime friends who settle upon going out with a bang (literally) when the beach home that’s served as the setting for their legendary summer parties for more than a decade is forcibly put up for sale, Michelle Borth might have been the most comfortable with the subject matter. Or at least the filming of the movie’s titular third act, which spanned at least a week and required all sorts of pasties. After all, Borth is probably best known for the short-lived HBO series “Tell Me You Love Me,” which revolved around three…