Neill McClung was born to perform. The eighteen-year-old actress was running off and climbing onto random stages before she could even talk. “‘Where did this child come from?’ my family would say,” she tells me with a laugh, then turns to shush a passing motorcycle, worried the noise was interrupting our interview. Yes, ‘where did she come from?’ I too wondered as I sat across the young Miss McClung. She smiled back at me, basking in the warm California sun and excitedly sipped her latte.

The Dallas native got her first taste of Los Angeles at the age of thirteen when she auditioned for a band. It was then that McClung found her manager. After returning to Texas to complete high school, the young actress moved to California. In just under a year, McClung has had a steady line of work. Despite previous credits consisting of only theatre and a film (“Devon’s Ghost”), McClung has been very successful in her new home of Hollywood.

I caught up with her after an audition for a music video, which, to my surprise, was just a normal day for McClung. (She was recently featured in music videos for both Pink and Nelly Furtado.) But the biggest buzz surrounding McClung is in the Paramount feature “Redline,” which she just finished filming. Originally cast by Billy Zane, McClung will soon be on the big screen in the Andy Cheng directed film - set to open this fall. McClung plays Mary, assistant to Tim Matheson’s character, in the action thriller about high stakes gambling. “It’s an action movie, with drama, a love story, it’s a big mix,” she says. “It’s just really fun.”

And McClung doesn’t just mean the film. The experience itself, from filming in Vegas to hanging out with Matheson, was both fun and educational when it came to her career. “It was my first big principle role and I’m really excited about it. It was really unexpected. I just came out here and auditioned. It was a big deal to get it. A lot has happened in a short amount of time,” she explains.

McClung certainly is on the Hollywood fast track, but it is through hard work that she has had her success. One of the things that she doesn’t understand about Hollywood are the girls her age that come out to be 'actresses.' “There are so many people that come out here and say they want to act, but they don’t do anything about it. I’m really driven. You know, I may not get another job for the next five years, but I’m really trying. I’ve really worked. Some people come out and just party the whole time. I’ll go into auditions and there are these gorgeous girls expecting to just get by on their looks. It’s fun being young,

but I’ve done a lot of growing up in the past year,” McClung says. It is clear that she truly has paved her own road and sought her own career; unlike others, she does not rely on the promises Hollywood gives to young actresses.

McClung is very serious about the craft of acting, but even if she appreciates a film, she will draw the line if she believes certain scenes to be too racy. She was up for a dramatic role in a Universal film, and though the part came down to her and a few other girls, she ultimately had to turn it down due to an uncomfortable scene she deemed more NC-17. “It would have been a cool film to do,” she says, “but it was really bad. I’m not super conservative, but it was a nasty scene that I wasn’t willing to do and I guess the other girls were. But I could never let my Dad see that!”

In addition to a burgeoning acting career, McClung

is staying true to her vision of that initial Los Angeles visit years ago. She is heading into the studio to record an album, but is taking her time writing her own songs and putting together a band. “I want to go onstage and rock out. I love performing!” she excitedly tells me.

The actress has also taken the reigns as host on im80, a motorcross show on Fuse TV, that she greatly enjoyed; she would like to try hosting again as well as performing in a sitcom.

For now, it is acting, music and enjoying all the exciting opportunities coming her way. “It’s a dream coming out here. I have been blessed tremendously, and I‘ve worked really hard. I think everyone can aspire to be something,” she says.

She may be older, but the question remains the same. It won't be long before all of Hollywood is asking, “Where did this girl come from?”

Related Links:

http://www.nickonken.com

http://www.arefuge.com/Member/neillm

Additional Credits:

Assistant:

Stylist: Neill McClung, Nick Onken

Make-up: Neill McClung

Equipment List: Canon