Summer Phoenix

The seasonal pro or jumping the queue in Dinner Rush

Summer Phoenix is the kind of girl who could charm the birds out of the trees. But the stamp her size fives if she didn't like their song. Indeed, the youngest member of cinema's funkiest acting clan is, by her own admission, "tough, hard-nosed and not easy to fuck with". Still, as Empire chats with her over coffee, a softer side slowly reveals it self. This is a girl who calls her family every day, lives next door to her brother (whom she endearingly refers to as Joaq') and who , despite an unorthodox, sorrowhat hippie, upbringing was, "definitely Stacy or Tiffany when my sister and me played house". So far being a tough cookie has served her well. In this month's Dinner Rush she sparkles as a hard as nails waitress with artistic ambitions, and she has also amassed both rave reviews and an independent Spirit nomination Stateside for her role in the upcoming The Believer, a story about religion and indentity. Although that's not to say that al this serious acting lark can't get a little wearing sometimes. "I want a genius director like Wes Anderson to do an action flick with" she says. "I mean, how fresh would that be?" Hmm, Rushmore meets Rush Hour? It could work.

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