After two years of pestering celebrities, I still get the same questions at parties and at, well, more parties. Who is the nicest celebrity? Who is the biggest jerk? Who is the smartest, the stupidest?

Being a gentleman, I politely respond: Wait for my tell-all book. But I can say I have learned that British celebrities are the funniest, American stars the most cautious, and Canadian artists the happiest. Draw your own cultural conclusions.

And the happiest of said gleeful lot has to be Montreal-born actor Emmanuelle Chriqui, a.k.a. Sloan McQuewick in the hit dramedy Entourage (now in its sixth season on HBO Canada).

Having worked her way up from sought-after child actor (with dozens of credits in such family-friendly material as Are You Afraid of the Dark ?, Snow Day and The Adventures of Sinbad ) to adult co-star (the Adam Sandler vehicle You Don’t Mess with the Zohan , and the upcoming Saint John of Las Vegas , wherein she plays a disabled stripper no less), Chriqui’s career trajectory gives her every reason to be sunny. She’s too busy to be otherwise.

Another truism gleaned from this job: People who survive childhood fame to become successful adults do not always end up sleeping in oxygen tanks and becoming best friends with chimpanzees.

Entourage has been described as Sex and the City for men. Are the female characters secondary?

Yes. I think in the past, that was definitely true. I think, in all fairness though, the show was created for the boys – it’s their journey, from New York and coming to L.A., finding superstardom and all the stuff that goes with that. The show’s really been about their path, so the women have been, you know, accents. But, I feel as though the show is evolving. As our characters are growing up and their priorities are shifting, we are seeing the women behind the men. I feel in this season, that relationship is explored so much more.

Your character has a turbulent, on-off relationship with the character ‘E’ [Kevin Connolly], and you are in three upcoming films. Is this perhaps your last season?

Um … I … don’t think so … Ha I don’t think so. I think that, oh, I think that there’s just a lot to look forward to. Unfortunately, I so can’t give you details. But it’s very up and down, and surprising, and it’s great. But I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Sloan.

So, you’ll continue with the show?

I would love to. I love working on this show. I love it so much – after this many years, it does feel like a family. It’s kind of astonishing. We shoot this half-hour show, totally on location, and it feels like we’re making mini movies every week. And with the guest stars, and everything, there’s just such a great rhythm to it now. And I love that it takes virtually no time. Four months of my year, then the rest of the year I can do movies. So, yeah, I would love to continue on the show.

What’s the most Entourage -like thing you’ve ever done?

Oh my God, this is bad, but I did do something that was totally “celebrity” once. I had to go to Europe, and my passport was almost expired, and I was in Toronto, and in a complete panic, and I went to the passport office and told them I needed it done in a rush – and a “rush” is like, minimum 10 days – and the clerk looks at me and says: “Are you the girl from Entourage ?” And I totally charmed them. I said, “Yes, I am. Thank you for recognizing me.” Then the clerk went into the office and brought out her supervisor, another officer, and they talked to each other, and they were looking at me, and I was smiling and smiling, and then, like, in 10 minutes, I had my passport. It was kind of a bad thing to do, but I thought, okay, I am going to use my celebrity this once, I am desperate

The people behind you didn’t lynch you?

Oh, I went out the back.

There’s a back door at the passport office?

Yeah, they let me go out the back. I know, I know, it’s not fair, but I almost never, never do things like that. It’s not me.

Is that because you’ve been acting since you were a child, and the whole celebrity business is familiar to you?

I think that’s definitely a part of it, because I have been working a long time. From the outside, it looks like it happened overnight, but it was years and years of work, since I was a kid. And I think that it’s better this way, because if you get famous all of a sudden, it’s too much for most people, it’s just too overwhelming.

You had a major part in Cadillac Records – what happened to that film? It seems like it never got released.

It’s weird, I know. Was it even released in Canada? I don’t know what happened, because it’s such a great movie, and Jeffrey Wright and Adrien Brody were so good in it. But I guess it’s the economy, and just, I guess, the nature of the business. It’s all ups and downs, and you have to learn to take the downs.

You don’t appear plagued by downs.

Oh my God, are you kidding? I have had so many downs. Stuff happens every day. But then, so many great things have happened as well. I don’t think you can appreciate the good things that happen unless you get the downside, too.

From The Globe and Mail