On the Industry
Leaders In The Arts, Talent And Beauty
By Tommy Garrett
Dec 6, 2009 - 9:36:22 PM

HOLLYWOOD —Tanna Frederick and Anna Paquin are two of the great young actresses of today. Both are beautiful and exciting on the screen and both very well trained and disciplined young stars, who have growing followings which transcend almost every boundary. Frederick’s recent work “Irene In Time” is absolutely astonishing and she is receiving much buzz and acclaim about an Oscar nomination in her short-term future.

Tanna Frederick is a wonderful person, who has grown as an actress, who moved from Iowa to Hollywood to make her dreams come true. The smartest and luckiest thing that Frederick ever did was becoming a contract-player at Rainbow Films. The West Hollywood studio that is run by the maverick Henry Jaglom is a place where Tanna has been able to spread her wings and not only on the big screen but recently, Frederick blew critics away in her stage play, “45 Minutes From Broadway,” a Rainbow Theater Company production at the Edgemar Theater in Santa Monica. Her costars included David Proval, Diane Salinger, Harriet Schock, David Garver, Julie Davis and Jack Heller.

Anna Paquin Courtesy: HBO Television

This venue offered her a break-out performance before a live-audience and from opening night to closing, it remained a sell-out.

Though Frederick had done some Independent film work, it was in 2006 that she began to shine and become a star, when she was the lead in Jaglom’s “Hollywood Dreams.” She played a character that was eerily similar to so many young starlets who arrive in Hollywood with beauty and ambition. Though she became a bona fide star in this film. Later Frederick wowed audiences in “Irene,” which some say is the best film in a decade. Playing a neurotic who can’t find love because of the loss of love of her father when she was very young, it’s a big departure from being a neurotic star and Frederick does so with ease.

Last year Tanna starred in the sequel to “Hollywood Dreams,” in next year’s sleeper hit “Queen of the Lot,” where she has matured and the character Margie, now called Maggie has become a big Hollywood star. I shared a pivotal scene in the picture with Tanna and aside of being awe-struck by her beauty, I was even more in awe of her range as an actress and where she has come.

Anna Paquin is Sookie Stackhouse in the HBO hit drama “True Blood.” Paquin however has a distinguished career that belies her youth and good looks. The Canadian born beauty became a huge star in 1993 when she won Best Supporting-Actress in “The Piano.” The child-star didn’t settle on her laurels, she continued to work and became one of the most prolific actresses of her generation. Paquin didn’t just see film work as the way to become a respected actress. She readily took television work and in 2008 when HBO and mega-producer and creator Alan Ball chose her to play Sookie Stackhouse, the title role in “True Blood” she became synonymous with the role and fans recognize her much more now for her TV work than her distinguished film and movie career.

Paquin also transferred her enigmatic beauty and on-screen chemistry with actor Stephen Moyer, who plays her lover vampire Bill Compton from the TV screen and now the couple is engaged and starting filming season 3 this week in Hollywood.

Both Frederick and Paquin are youthful beauties who understand the great opportunities in Hollywood to beautiful but also talented young starlets who are willing to do the hard work and become better performers. Both Tanna and Anna can mark a check-mark off their list of accomplishments that real stars covet and achieve rarely in this town.

Screenings of “Irene In Time” are going on presently in Hollywood. It is a Rainbow Films Production. “True Blood” Season 3 airs next July.

Tanna Frederick, Courtesy: Rainbow Films