Being one of the guys never looked so good

By Kate Brennan

NEW YORK, NY (Hollywood Today) 6/6/08 – “It’s a recurring theme in my life to be the one girl among a lot of guys,” says Emmanuelle Chriqui who stars with Adam Sandler in ‘You Don’t Mess With The Zohan’ “When the guys are as funny as Sandler, it’s not so bad. There was a lot of teasing.”

Ranked #6 on ‘FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women of 2008’ list, Chriqui is known for heating up the small screen on HBO’s hit series ‘Entourage’.

“Emmanuelle was very good, very relaxed,” says Adam Sandler. “On the day she wasn’t shooting she was hanging out watching and encouraging us. She was a great presence on the set.”

“I learned so much,” says Chriqui. “Adam is such a giver. He made it safe to be comfortable and to play and take risks. I would love nothing more than to work with him again. And I told him that! It was heartbreaking when it was over.”

“My mother was a very fiery, unbelievably Moroccan woman,” says the stunning Canadian who looked to her mother as inspiration for the role. “So I tapped into that energy to play a strong Palestinian woman.”

“Dalia’s got a ton of energy,” says Chriqui of her character in ‘You Don’t Mess With The Zohan’. “She’s edgy, she’s funky, and she’s strong. It takes a lot of guts for someone to immigrate to America and be running a business just four or five years later.” Chriqui worked hard with a dialogue coach to perfect a Palestinian accent.

Adam Sandler is an Israeli commando and hero who fakes his own death so he can fulfill his dream of becoming a hairstylist in New York. Chriqui is a Palestinian immigrant who gives Sandler a job sweeping the floor in her New York hair salon. “She gives him a chance even though at first she thinks it’s really a bad idea,” says Chriqui. “He ends up helping her and making her business flourish,”

Chriqui began acting at age ten in a McDonalds commercial. She guest-starred in television series including ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark’, ‘Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal’ and ‘The O.C.’ Chriqui is filming in Louisiana for ‘Cadillac Records’, a period piece about Chuck Berry and the rise and fall of R&B record label Chess Records (to be released by Sony in 2009).
In 2002 Chriqui ranked #90 on ‘Stuff Magazine’s 102 Sexiest Women in the World.’ She climbed to #81 on ‘Maxim’s Hot 100 List’ in 2007. In 2008 she took the #40 spot on AskMen.com’s ‘Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2008’.

‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’
Running Time: 1 hr. 53 min.
Release Date: June 6, 2008 (USA)
Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language and nudity
Distributor: Columbia Pictures (Sony)