By: Alex Catarinella

Taryn Manning is a survivor by Hollywood standards. She’s worked and chilled with all the superstars, but has yet to lose her mind on TMZ or appear on Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab. She’s been famous for nearly a decade, with her first major role alongside Kirsten Dunst in 2001’s Crazy/Beautiful, and later portraying Brit Brit’s preggers BFF in Crossroads, Eminem’s crazy ex in 8 Mile, and her breakout role as the prostitute with those killer Bo Derek dreads to Terrance Howard in Hustle & Flow–AND she’s an indie darling. Now that’s what you call a resume. But wait! She’s also managed to squeeze into her schedule being the front-woman of electro pop, brother/sister duo Boomkat (I still die for “Wasting My Time” featured on the 8 Mile soundtrack), launching a successful clothing line (Born Uniqorn) and DJing around the country. I recently chatted with Taryn, who was fighting a cold that she just can’t shake while catching up on scripts and prepping for upcoming DJ gigs including Sundance. Taryn told me she keeps it together with regular visits with an energy healer (Can I get one of those?), she’s consistently on her grind (the recession even affects celebrities), and she elaborated on the dark Hollywood (and universal) struggles including her thoughts on the late and lovely Brittany Murphy. I really dig this unaffected, super talented and genuine woman (hello–one of her dream roles is ROLLER GIRL in Boogie Nights!), and I live for these exclusive gorgeous photos. Read on …

So Boomkat’s playing South by SXSW and the latest single and upcoming video is “Lonely Child.” Tell me about the video.

It’s one of my best videos I think. It’s different, it’s more of a rock song. It’s got more of a story line with it. When I was a kid, my parents worked. So everyday after school I came home, I made myself food and did my homework.

In the video, I have a young girl who has nowhere to go and she’s sort of lost and lonely and sad. We dedicated it to my father who passed away quite a long ago and there’s pictures of him in it. Justin Coloma did the video–he’s done Smashing Pumpkins’ videos and a bunch of big artists. We worked together to come up with it, and he’s a great video director. So it turned out really beautiful.

But you’re also working on a solo career. Your electro pop song “So Talented” was featured on Melrose Place.

I’ve been working on my solo music for quite awhile. Mike Lenny, who’s signed with Darkchild Entertainment, produced “So Talented”. But we’re aiming to put the solo album out hopefully by this summer. It’s all being worked out. “So Talented” is a song I wrote and I played for the creators of Melrose Place place. And they actually chose it, it was on it, and they loved it. You hear it, and it’s kind of like in the vain of what’s going on right now–it’s dance music. But I like to write about things that are sort of more meaningful. I know a lot of pop hits are throwaway concepts, like partying and getting drunk. I actually wrote it around the time Michael Jackson died.

We’re all just sort of one, we’re all human beings, every where across the ocean, we’re all the same. And if I die tomorrow, what will people remember about me? So that’s “So Talented.” It’s kind of fun and it has a meaning to it. That’s how I like to write.

I really feel like what I’m doing is really original and cutting edge and I don’t want to put it all on Myspace yet. But Melrose Place was cool, it was a lot of fun how they did it. I kind of played myself and got to shoot the fake video.

You’re all over the DJ scene lately. Why and when did you start DJing?

Well, I used to DJ when I was really young. When I was 18 I had turntables. I’ve always loved music obviously, I have a band, did music films. Basically, the only reason I stopped is because I got busy with acting and Boomkat and stuff. And when I go out, I don’t like to just be at the club and party–I like to contribute. For the last 5 years, I’ve been just like messing around at my friends’ parties and everyone wants me to bring my iPod. And just recently, things have been slowing down. For me, I always have to be creative. I can’t sit around and wait for things to pick up for the economy. I have to do something to stimulate me creatively.

And I get hired now, here and there, and it’s a really fun job. It’s cool to make money spinning music.  I don’t know what other way to explain it–it’s a really dope job. I ran into Samantha Ronson and she’s one of the top female DJs. I said “Are you hating on the fact that I’m spinning?” I was totally kidding. But she was like “No, I always thought it was a long time coming.” When we would hang out, I’d tell her what to play while she was spinning. She said it made sense.

DJing is harder than it looks…

It is hard. Collecting all of the remixes and stuff is what takes time. I’m not great, but it takes time to become great. But I definitely have an ear with songs that go together. I read the crowd. People wanna think that I can’t possibly be good because I act. But I love music. I’ve been around music forever. It’s really fun and on top of that, it’s cool to make money doing it.  You do something you love and when you get paid for it, it makes it even better.

And we’re gonna do some gigs for Sundance. I’ve never went there without doing a movie out there. I’m excited about that. And then I go to Florida to spin the Hard Rock out there so it’s cool.

What’s your take on the many recent deaths in young Hollywood? You were in 8 Mile with Brittany Murphy…

I mean, it’s not really fair to say it’s happening in Hollywood. It just gets more attention. There’s people dying every day, committing suicide, giving up on life because it’s kind of hard right now. I see this energy healer guy–he’s really tuned into the earth and stuff, and he’s always talking about stuff–he’s saying “that’s IF we all survive.”  And I’m like “What do you mean? Is there some sort of big catastrophe coming?” And he’s like “No, literally, if you can survive this really bad time in society.” What he’s really saying is if we all can actually get through this, not try to escape by taking drugs and alcohol… You have like dads committing suicide because they get laid off from work and have a family. But it’s only in Hollywood when it’s really sensationalized. It seems to be happening more frequently but I really, truly think that people are just getting carried away, trying to escape the pain right now.  I know just in my circle of friends, a lot of friends  are suffering–cant do anything, there’s no jobs. Craiglist is like empty.

My friend just went to Thailand and Cambodia on vacation with her boyfriend, and she said “They have nothing Taryn.” They live in mud made huts, but they’re happy. I just try my hardest right now to see what I do have. I don’t think it’s some Hollywood stigma, it’s always been happening. People always have been taking drugs and alcohol in Hollywood.

It seems like people are doing whatever it takes for their 15 (reality TV) seconds of fame, and everyone wants to put their two cents in via these celebrity blogs. You’ve been in this biz for quite a bit and have worked with superstars who seem to have become victims of their fame. How have you managed to stay grounded? Is it difficult being famous?

I think what keeps me grounded is I’m not even where I wanna be so I have no business getting carried away–thinking like this is gonna last forever, like “I’m rich, I’m the It girl.” But I’m not there. I still have so many goals and dreams. And I don’t come from money at all so everyday for me I grind and hustle. I just appreciate how hard it is to break in. I try not to get too high on the good times and too low on the bad times. I try as best as I can to stay balanced.

Brittany Murphy was a good friend of mine. She blew up with 8 Mile then Uptown Girl and Just Married and Little Black Book. Her four starring roles back to back made huge paychecks. But that never lasts. And if one of those bombs, and you can’t bring in the box office dollars, then you’re not worth it. That abuse on somebody–acceptance, rejection, acceptance, rejection… it eats your soul. There’s a shit load of rejection in Hollywood and everyone says that, but it’s true and it’s real and it’s hard to deal with. It gets harder and harder to hear the same things–you’re not pretty enough, you’re not tall enough, etc. So I say you just have to have other things you love to do because just acting or just doing music isn’t always conducive to a happy life… Even though it looks dope on the outside. But I would never discourage anyone to go for their dreams.

On a lighter note, now for some “Get to know Taryn” Q&As …

What are dream roles you’d have died to play? Hilary Swank’s roles in Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby, Heather

Graham (Roller Girl!) in Boogie Nights, Jodie Foster’s role in Silence of the Lambs.

What are some of your favorite movies of all time? Scarface, Silence of the Lambs, Boogie Nights, Jaws, and Adventures in Babysitting.

Top songs you like to spin:

Madonna “Get Into The Groove”

Empire of the Sun “Walking on a Dream”

Daft Punk “Around the World”

La Roux “Bulletproof”

Biz Markie “Got What I Need”

Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Amazing. If you could duet on a song with anyone, who would it be? Eminem!

New Year’s Resolution? Drink more water, and eat out less!

Check out her new single on Itunes HERE