Christina calls ‘Be Cool’ a one-in-a-million opportunity

Christina Milian is never at a loss for laughs.

As her infectious giggle fills the empty hotel bar, it’s hard to figure where she gets the energy to be so sunny. It’s only 10 a.m., but the singer-actress has already been up promoting her new film “Be Cool” for four hours.

Listening to the excitement in her voice as she recounts sharing the screen with the likes of John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Steven Tyler, it becomes clear: This is someone who feels her time to shine has finally arrived.

“Even though I’ve been doing this for 10 or 12 years, this is still, I think, probably by breakthrough moment with this film,” says Milian, 23.

She plays Linda Moon, a promising young pop star who Travolta takes under his wing while fighting off her manager (Vince Vaughn), competing record executives (Harvey Keitel and Cedric the Entertainer) and the Russian mob.

Along the way, Milian gets to relive a fictionalized version of her own career.

“For her, and for myself, I feel like in the movie you see everything turn,” she says. “It’s gonna happen for Linda.”

It can be argued that it’s already happened for Milian. She’s got two albums under her belt and another film, “Man of the House,” in theaters.

But she’s still pinching herself over landing the role in “Be Cool.”

“I heard hundreds of girls auditioned for it, including some of the most famous singers that you can think of in my age range,” she says.

While she’s previously been billed alongside a few big names – Ice Cube in “Torque,” Omar Epps in “The Wood” – that didn’t come close to “Be Cool” for sheer star power.

“It’s hard to stay in character when you’re standing next to John Travolta. Or Vince Vaughn is joking with you, and I’m like, ‘I’m in a conversation with you? This is nuts.’ “

But Milian says she really felt starstruck when spending time with the other musicians who populate the film, including OutKast’s Andre 3000, who has a small role as a wannabe gangsta.

“I’ve always wanted to do a song with him,” Milian admits. So when he rained compliments on one of her numbers in the movie, she says, “I was like, ‘Yes!’ Maybe this is a step closer to all of that!”

Though she doesn’t perform with him in the film, she does get to light up the stage with Aerosmith. Through an extremely lucky (read: improbable) turn of events, Linda finds herself onstage with the band during a tour stop in L.A.

In reality, the footage was shot during an Aerosmith concert in Boston. With no choreography and no real rehearsal time, Milian had to hop onstage and duet with Tyler on the 1993 hit “Cryin’.”

“I got out there and was like, ‘Let’s do this,’ ” she says. “Linda Moon, she’s confident, and this is her moment in the film, and I swear when I got out there, I threw Linda Moon out the door and I was like: ‘It’s me!’ I felt like a total rock star.”

The birthday bunch

TV personality Willard Scott is 71. Actor Daniel J. Travanti is 65. Singer Peter Wolf (The J. Geils Band) is 59. Actor John Heard is 59. Actor Bryan Cranston (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 49. Comedian Wanda Sykes is 41. Singer Taylor Dayne is 40. Actress Rachel Weisz (“Constantine,” “The Mummy”) is 34. Singer Hugo Ferreira (Tantric) is 31. Actress Laura Prepon (“That ‘70s Show”) is 25.