Jenny Shimizu An Actress Who Can Tune A Car
It’s the stuff of movie legends: The beguiling face. The fabulous physique. The outrageous personality tinged with more than a little bit of rebel. A chance encounter. The Big Break.
World, meet Jenny Shimizu. Jenny Shimizu, the world.
Shimizu, one of the stars of the new movie “Foxfire,” has been dazzling the modeling world ever since she was discovered a few years ago riding her beloved ‘71 Triumph motorcycle. At the time, the Southern Californian was an auto mechanic working at an L.A. garage.
As a model with a crewcut and numerous tattoos - including one of a curvy babe straddling a wrench - her original look led to jobs strutting Calvin Klein’s clothes and avant-garde shows with Jean-Paul Gaultier.
Shimizu makes her acting debut as the troubled Goldie in “Foxfire,” based on the Joyce Carol Oates book. The word on her ability? Shimizu is more than credible as the brooding young woman with a dark, insidious problem.
Endowed with an active imagination, at one time she toyed with becoming a doctor or a lawyer or, much to her mother’s distress, a firefighter.
1. You were discovered as a model on a motorcycle in front of a nightclub. Your acting break seemed just as flukey. How does one get so lucky?
Shimizu: It all came out of the blue - all these lucky things. I know, people hate me. It’s all about good energy. Basically, I try to treat people nice and have some kind of selfrespect. Just be happy. Even if it’s denial happy, happy is all right. Also, you know what? Standing on your head for 30 seconds if you’re in a bad mood, it’ll cure anybody’s crankiness. Try it, you’ll thank me later. And who cares where you are? Be an individual person.
2. In the film, you’re in a gang that’s called “Girls Who Run with Foxes” and “Girls Who Run with Geeks.” If you had your own gang, what would you call it?
Shimizu: “Girls who listen to Tracy Chapman and don’t admit it.” “Girls who never watch movies but love to be in them.” “Girls who can fix their own bike and don’t whine.”
3. What’s the difference between people in the movie industry and those in the modeling business?
Shimizu: In modeling, there’s always someone watching out for you, nagging you. Everybody is always telling you, “You’re pretty! You’re beautiful!” because, you know, that day they need you to be pretty and beautiful. And acting is the same way - there’s always somebody cheerleading you.
4. Did you have experiences growing up where things would escalate to the point where they got out of control, like in the film when the girls broke into the school?
Shimizu: I was a pyromaniac. I caught my back yard on fire. This is the crazy part, I ran away, like four houses down the block, and hid in a shed. And what do you know, but my mother sniffs me out and she finds me in five minutes! She’s psychic, man.
4-1/2: How did you start the fire?
Shimizu: I was inventing. I had WD-40 and gasoline - anything that was in the garage - I’d put it together and put it in little bottles. Then I’d throw it on things like trees (and light it). And that’s what happened. I threw it on a pine tree, half of it burned. Then I’d watch it and then I’d have a hose and put it out and pretend I was a fireman.
5. What would it take now to get you to do something against your better judgment?
Shimizu: You know what? You don’t have to do much really, a simple dare. It’s already instilled in me. It’s all about this weird thing, “Prepare for battle, world! Here comes the biggest dork in the world.”
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