Spotlight

Emmanuelle Chriqui’s red carpet year

Emmanuelle Chriqui says you should come to New York for the holidays. Not to stay with her, you understand. Although the Montreal-born, Toronto-raised actor splits her time between LA and NYC, even she doesn’t have a place in the Big Apple. When she’s there — as she is on the day of this phone interview — she flops with pals. “I have so many friends here that it’s pretty easy,” she says.

It’s just that New York is so pretty this time of year. “It’s not as crazy as it usually is, it’s kind of magical,” Chriqui says. “It’s surreal because the hustle and bustle just kind of goes away, everything’s lit up, it’s snowing. You sort of feel like New York City is yours for the day.”

Truth is, the 31-year-old favourite of lads mags and Sexiest Women lists hasn’t even decided how she’ll spend the end of the year. Growing up as an observant Jew in Ontario, even Hannukah wasn’t a huge deal. “It’s more of a commercial holiday than anything else,” she says.

But Chriqui has a lot to celebrate as 2008 draws to a close. Her role on TV’s Entourage continues, she starred opposite Adam Sandler in You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, and this month plays Adrien Brody’s wife in Cadillac Records, a Muddy Waters bio-pic, which — for some reason — is only scheduled to open south of the border.

“Gosh, I had a great 2008,” says Chriqui. “Just doing You Don’t Mess With the Zohan was incredible. Working with Adam Sandler was amazing on every level, working with such a genius.”

Adam Sandler a genius? Perhaps in France. Which, coincidentally, is where the bilingual Chriqui just signed with an agent in the hopes of making French films. “You know, Zohan was such a big success both domestically and internationally,” she says, “if ever there was a time to go and embark on that journey it would be now.”