The day before Entourage’s New York premiere, actress Emmanuelle Chriqui caught up with us at The London NYC’s bar to chat about the end of the long-running series and what she has planned for the future.

BAZAAR: Entourage is coming to an end. What was it like working on the last season of the show?

Emmanuelle Chriqui: It was bittersweet. It was really sad at the end, only because there’s a part of you that’s just kind of like, “Where did the time go?” For me, six years — for the boys, eight years gone. It doesn’t feel that way. And then of course, just having been a part of a show that was so well-received, [that] was just such a part of pop culture, is something that — we’re lucky if that happens once in our lifetimes. So when it was over, it was like, “Wow. What happens now?”

BAZAAR: Do you find that there are things that have happened on the show that have either happened to you or to people you know in Hollywood?

EC: Absolutely. It’s all inspired by real events. Maybe it’s embellished a little but for our entertainment. I think that’s one of the things that makes it work; people relate to it. At first there was such a resistance, to. People were like, “I don’t need to watch this. I deal with enough stuff every day.” But it was funny enough, and light enough, that they were like, “No, actually, I could enjoy this.”

BAZAAR: What’s going on for your character, Sloan, this season?

EC: We end Season 7 where my dad, unbeknownst to me, asks [my fiance] Eric to sign a prenup, and that doesn’t go over well. They are — surprise, surprise — broken up again and not on good terms. We see Sloan at the end of her rope. Her feathers are ruffled this season, and that’s just fun to play. It was amazing because I got to sink my teeth into Sloan in a totally different way. [The series] just ends with a bang, and it sets it up beautifully for a film.

BAZAAR: What other big plans are you working on, post-Entourage?

EC: Film-wise, I don’t know what’s next. There are a couple offers — there’s a couple irons in the fire. On August 19, I have a film coming out called Five Days of War, starring myself and Rupert Friend and Richard Doyle. It’s such a departure for me, because it’s a political drama and it’s about when Russia invaded Georgia a few years back. It was definitely an eye-opening experience, and I think that for those who see it, they’ll learn about a part of the world that a lot of people don’t know about. A lot of people have no idea where Georgia is.

BAZAAR: Or they just assume it’s the one with Atlanta. So did you film it in that area?

EC: Yes, we were on location for two months. It definitely brings me in a direction I want to go in. Sloan was so fun and so glamorous, but I really want to explore other things — the darker side of things, the non-glamorous side of things. As an actor, I think it’s really exciting. And I just launched a collaboration with JewelMint.com. The proceeds go to a charity that is super-close to my heart, which is Raise Hope for Congo. I looked through the collection, and I chose a piece that I really responded to, which was the Mumbai bracelet. And then we incorporated the charity element to it. So for me, it’s really getting my feet wet in such an advantageous way.

BAZAAR: How did you get involved with Raise Hope for Congo?

EC: I heard [founder] John Pendergast speaking. He is sort of the foremost expert on all things Africa. He is the person who brought to light the blood diamonds of Sierra Leone, and now, things that are happening in the Congo. I heard him speak, and I was so moved. It was kind of astonishing. We ended up sitting together [and I said] “You’re amazing, I want to get involved, but how do I?”

BAZAAR: While you weren’t involved specifically in the design of this bracelet, is that something you’d be interested in for the future — doing a jewelry or fashion line?

EC: It definitely is. I don’t know whether it would be jewelry or clothing. I’m really inclined toward organic, natural, sustainable [fashion]. I think it would definitely be in that realm for me. Making beautiful things that don’t look like [they’re for] treehuggers.

The final season of Entourage debuts on Sunday, July 24th at 10:30 pm ET on HBO.

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