Fast five with Marie Avgeropoulos

FACTFILE

Name: Marie Avgeropoulos

Born: June 17, 1986, Ontario, Canada

Filmography: I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009), Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), 50/50 (2011), Tracers (2015)

1) WHO'S THAT GIRL?

This 28-year-old is a self-professed tomboy who loves the great outdoors, having spent her growing-up years in Ontario fishing, hunting and camping.

After a stint doing commercials in her home country, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting full time.

The budding actress, then 21, soon caught the attention of director Chris Columbus, who cast her in a supporting role in I Love You, Beth Cooper.

2) MOVING UPWARDS

The petite brunette can kiss her small roles goodbye, having scored her first lead in Tracers, opening here tomorrow.

In the action thriller, Avgeropoulos plays Nikki, a girl with a complicated past who introduces Cam (Taylor Lautner) to the dangerous yet exciting extreme sport of parkour and her world of crime.

3) HANDS ON

What stands out in Tracers is the amazing parkour action, which Avgeropoulos was heavily involved in.

"The appeal of Tracers was being part of a high-impact thrilling action movie that's just non-stop," she said.

"One of the fondest memories I'm going to leave this movie with is the prep and training with the guys; learning how to do parkour and literally just trying to keep up with them and their amazing skill set."

She added that all that hardcore action naturally brought about injuries but ironically, her most serious one did not come from filming.

"I broke my ankle midway through the shoot - a big obstacle I had to overcome mentally and physically.

"But it didn't happen in the line of duty. I was doing my Jane Fonda butt-glossing workout and rolled on it!"

4) BADASS BABE

Avgeropoulos loves spending time with her pooch - as documented on her Instagram account - and is also a daredevil.

The star of US TV post-apocalyptic drama The 100 told TV Guide magazine that she loves cruising around on her bike.

"I have a 1,200cc Harley Davidson motorcycle that I like to rip around (in)... it's nice to live in LA where you can ride it all year long."

5) NO LOVE LOST

Her steamy scenes with Lautner in Tracers were not exactly "work".

The pair hooked up on set and dated for 1½ years before parting ways last month.

But it is all good between them, with Avgeropoulos in awe of her ex's performance.

"He's like a loaded weapon. He can run and backflip 20 times off the wall," Avgeropoulos raved, adding that "he's super easy to have chemistry with".

joannes@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Feb 25, 2015.
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