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10 Questions with Deena Dill
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Have you ever met a person that just makes you hyperventilate when you first see her in person? Deena Dill had breakfast with the SportsHollywood staff, and, frankly, we haven't been able to exhale for about the last six hours.
You may have seen her on TV shows like ER, 24, Two and a Half Men, Diagnosis Murder, The Pretender, Passions, Sunset Beach or The Untouchables, or in the films BachelorMan, Last Dance, Heavyweights, and My Fellow Americans.
She's also appeared on the pages of Sports Illustrated and countless fashion magazines, and in calendars, billboards, and even in Budweiser and Miller Beer ads. There's even a seven-foot cardboard cut-out of Deena for Bacardi.
So you're reading this and thinking, "Sure she's beautiful and physically perfect, but hot-looking women are never very smart." Wrong. She graduated Cum Laude (and as a cheerleader and Homecoming Queen) from Vanderbilt University, and has appeared at the Improv and Comedy Store in Los Angeles doing stand-up. (And she's good!) Furthermore, if you ask her about politics she'll blithely explain her theories on liberalism vs. conservatism, or the American economic system, or an amazing conversation she had with Nancy Reagan one day at a hair salon on the similarities between Hollywood and Washington DC.
So now you're asking, "Okay, she's incredible. She's beautiful, smart, talented, funny and informed... But what does this have to do with sports?"
Well, nothing. But with a woman like Deena, you find a reason for an interview!
We discovered that at Vanderbilt she ran the hurdles in NCAA Division I track and hosted the local basketball show on TV. If that isn't enough, she also does gymnastics, ballet, modern dance, boating, golf, scuba diving, skeet shooting, water skiing and snow skiing, and she's a rabid Tennessee Titans fan.
If that isn't enough, so what? Look at these amazing photographs!!!
TEN QUESTIONS
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SportsHollywood: What's your favorite sports movie?
DILL: I like so many! Bull Durham, The Longest Yard... The Natural was amazing...
SportsHollywood: Least favorite sports movie?
DILL: There was that one with (EDITED WHEN DEENA REALIZED SHE WAS WORKING WITH ONE OF THE PRODUCERS).
SportsHollywood: Favorite sports team:
DILL: The Tennessee Titans!
SportsHollywood: Most hated sports team:
DILL: Anybody playing the Tennessee Titans!
SportsHollywood: Favorite athlete:
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DILL: I love Karl Malone, and Michael Jordan was amazing to watch; Tiger Woods is such a virtuoso... but I admire the people who give back -- Erron Kinney of the Titans is a fireman in his spare time. That shows a lot of character... besides, he's a Tennessee Titan!
SportsHollywood: Least favorite athlete:
DILL: Anybody playing the Tennessee Titans!
(We drive down La Cienga Boulevard in Beverly Hills to have a meal and conduct our interview. Along the way we pass a billboard advertising a beach resort, in which a beautiful blonde woman relaxes on the sand. Deena winces as we pass. When asked why, she says, "That's me!")
SportsHollywood: What is your most memorable modeling experience?
DILL: I did a shoot in the Bahamas for a boat company. The photographers wanted me sitting in a hammock surrounded by water, so I had to wait out on a sand bar for two hours until the high tide came in. When the water was finally high enough for the shot, I had my foot in the water. They were photographing me from a helicopter and shouted down, "Get your foot out of the water!" They finally told me -- later -- that a shark was circling me.
SportsHollywood: Weirdest modeling experience?
DILL: Posing in Warsaw with Mr. Poland was pretty weird. He spoke no English and I didn't speak Polish, so he just kind of grunted at me. What else? Let's see... My right eye is on the box for a contact lens company... even though I don't wear contacts. (And I'm not wearing one on the box, either!)
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SportsHollywood: How did you get started in show business?
DILL: I'd studied ballet from age 5, and when I was at Vanderbilt a choreographer I knew called me and said he needed a dancer for a music video. So I did a bunch of videos after that, with Billy Ray Cyrus, Lorrie Morgan, and Aaron Tippen (it won country music video of the year at the CMA's). A modeling agent saw one of the videos and approached me about doing print work. So then I was doing a photo shoot in Chicago and a casting exec from The Untouchables called up and wanted a "fur coat woman." That was my professional acting start, though I had done a lot of theater at Vanderbilt.
SportsHollywood: When you work with Dick Van Dyke do they clear the set of all ottomans?
DILL: Yes, they announce it on a bullhorn: "Mr. Van Dyke is approaching the set! Remove all ottomans! Remove all furniture that can be tripped over!!!"
SportsHollywood: Would you rather see a great theatrical performance or a Lakers game?
DILL: Show me a seating chart. Where am I sitting for the Laker game? Am I close to Jack?
SportsHollywood: What real athlete would you most like to portray?
DILL: There aren't a lot of female athletes who are recognizable enough for a movie. Flo-Jo or Marion Jones, maybe, but I don't think they'd cast me. Maybe "The Brandi Chastain Story?" (I do a lot of sports bra modeling work.) How about a Tonya Harding movie. That would be a fun part!
SportsHollywood: Favorite sports memory:
DILL: The "Music City Miracle" in the AFC Wildcard game. It eventually got the Titans into the Super Bowl... which is my worst sports memory. I also had my first par on a golf course in Tennessee!
Interview by Jeff Hause
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Deena Dill
Film: BachelorMan, Last Dance, Heavyweights, My Fellow Americans.
Television: 2 1/2 Men, 24, E.R., Becker, Cursed, S Club 7, Diagnosis Murder, The Pretender, Passions, Sunset Beach, The Untouchables
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