BRING IT ON MANIA
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Gabrielle Union: Bring It On

Whether she's throwing a basketball, a lethal look or a pom-pom, Gabrielle Union knows how to kick butt. After honing her skills in films like Love and Basketball, She's All That and 10 Things I Hate About You, Union is breaking into the big leagues with major movie roles and a regular spot on the Steven Bochco series City of Angels.
 

 But first, the Omaha-born gal kicks it with Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku in the cheerleader comedy Bring It On, as an inner-city cheerleader seeking revenge on a suburban squad that's been stealing her cheers.

"She's on a quest for justice by any means necessary," says Union. "She's employing the Malcolm X strategy to cheerleading." The role required all the actors to hit "cheer camp" before filming--which caused Union to, um, bring on the Ben-Gay.

All this hard work--and the UCLA grad still finds time to play. Namely, with her fiancé, Jacksonville Jaguar Chris Howard. He lives in Florida, she works in Los Angeles, so the two are racking up those frequent-flier miles. And on her days off this fall, she's looking forward to cheering on her man.

Which got us to wondering...

Did she do all her own cheers? "All my own moves and then some!"
 

Had she ever cheered before? "In the eighth grade, but I had no cheerleading abilities. It was all about being popular. We were so terrible. We had all these suggestive cheers like, 'We don't mess around! We don't mess around! We don't mess around! We just get down!' Thank you and goodnight."
 

Her screen team includes the R&B group Blaque. What were they like to work with? "They're cool girls. They've made a really good transition from music to film. And Natina brought her little Yorkie terrier on location. It's named Travel because she travels. Little Travel's not housebroken yet, so on the bus ride to and from location, we'd be like, 'Natina! Travel left a package on my pom-poms!' "
 

 Speaking of dogs, tell us about Morris Chestnut's character in your next feature, The Brothaz, due out in 2001. "Morris is one of those--what do you call those guys? Oh right--assholes. He's basically a commitment-phobe. I'm Denise--the idealistic, bright-eyed, bushytailed girl who's like, 'I'm gonna make you love me.' "
 

Did she always want to go into acting? "I didn't want to act. I thought it was a cheesy profession--but when I was a junior, I got an internship at a modeling agency. When my internship ended, they said, 'We'd be interested in representing you.' I was like, 'If you think someone will pay me to be cheesy, sure, whatever!' "
 

And now she gets to play a doctor on TV. What's that like? "I have no idea what I'm doing. If people are playing close attention, they'll be like, 'You're killing her!' "
 

What does she want to do next? "I want to be Miss USA or Miss America. I would bring the trophy back to Nebraska. My interests are agriculture and corn. Hey, I'm just riding this train as long as I can. As long as I'm having fun, I'll do it. When it stops being fun, I'll try something else. Maybe I'll open up a chain of Popeye's Chicken."
--Jeffrey Epstein