USA Today
From June 26, 2010
By Arienne Thompson
Original Source

Entourage actress Emmanuelle Chriqui, 32, is finally in a good place with her on-screen fiancé, E (played by Kevin Connolly ).

“It really represents a kind of stability, I think, between E and Sloan. We have our own house and I’m very much the supportive fiancée, so the drama of last season is no longer,” she says. “It’s very, very calm between us and stable. It doesn’t sound that exciting, but it’s the first time in years that they’re just in a good place.”

Chriqui tackles her fifth season on the Emmy-winning comedy — which returns for Season 7 on Sunday (HBO, 10:30 p.m. ET/PT) — as Sloan McQuewick, who accepted E’s marriage proposal in last season’s finale. And, although the on-off couple is finally on the same page, there doesn’t seem to be much room for the hard-partying, playboy antics of E’s best buds Vince (Adrian Grenier), Drama (Kevin Dillon) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara).

“The boys — all of them — are really finding their own way. They’re still tight-knit, but they’re exploring other facets of their life,” including domestic bliss for E, Chriqui says.

“I hate to describe (E and Sloan’s relationship) as boring, but it’s not the most exciting thing in the world,” Chriqui, who “totally” hates talking about her own love life, admits. “You should see the dinners that this woman makes and it’s like, ‘Really? When does she do this?!'”

Fortunately, however, Chriqui’s career has never been more exciting.

“It’s just so easy to get pigeonholed and I think that’s the last thing I want to do,” she says. “I’m into the long haul, so if I can do as many different things and have a great time doing it, I’ll be thrilled.”

In addition to her heightened role on Entourage, she just shot the first Internet-exclusive feature-length film, Girl Walks Into a Bar, due on Hulu and YouTube in September. She stars alongside Rosario Dawson, Zachary Quinto, Danny DeVito, Josh Hartnett and Carla Gugino, playing an exotic dancer who has an “alternate fantasy life as a magician.”

The film is written and directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, who also cast Chriqui in last year’s Women in Trouble and its upcoming sequel Elektra Luxx, in which she plays a woman whose female best friend is falling in love with her.

Chriqui says she’s thrilled about taking on challenging roles and seeing her career blossom.

“Acting is my passion. Everything always leads back to acting,” she says. “Whatever I’m doing, it’s always to sort of move the acting career along. Of course, I love other things, but that’s really passion.”

She followed her passion to the country of Georgia last fall to shoot director Renny Harlin’s political war drama that tells the story of Russia’s 2008 invasion of the sovereign nation.

“It’s such a departure for me, and it was a life-changing, unbelievable experience. Just being in the country where everything happened, on real location was incredible,” she says.

Chriqui says she hopes Harlin will take Georgia, which also stars Andy Garcia and Val Kilmer, on the festival circuit this year. In the mean time though, she’s happy to spend time with her Entourage boys and is keeping her fingers crossed for the development of a rumored big-screen incarnation of the show, a la Sex and the City.

“I keep hearing that and I have not heard that from anyone directly from Entourage, but that seems to be the word on the street. I feel as though (executive producer) Mark Wahlberg is really thinking about that,” she says. “It would seem to me like a natural progression. It will be amazing!”