Karissa Hearn>Junior>Journalism>The College of New Jersey
Olivia Munn put a little too much faith in a friend, who told her that an internship with Fox Sports in Los Angeles could be arranged. She assured her stepfather that she had the job as he drove her from Oklahoma to California. Apparently her connection didn’t have as much of an “in” as Munn thought.
Determined and already dropped off in LA, she called up Fox Sports, got an interview, and was offered an internship position.
But at first, it wasn’t everything Munn expected. “When you’re an intern you log tape and get water and it sucks,” she says. In an attempt for something bigger, she asked to do sideline reporting. Her request was granted.
After living 8 years of her childhood on a military base in Japan, her family moved back to the U.S. and lived in Oklahoma. In LA, while doing sideline reporting, Munn also did some modeling and appeared in a few commercials. This military brat gone country girl was slowly beginning to break into the limelight.
“You’ll never make it in theater,” she remembers her mother saying. But in 2006, after auditioning for the G4 television network, she was hired as a co-host on the live, gaming and electronics show, Attack of the Show.
Lately, the spotlight has been on Munn because this sexy, G4 TV host will be playing the part of the Iron Maiden in Iron Man 2, coming to theaters in July 2010. Munn seems be to the whole package – sports, gaming, sex appeal, and the perfect person to play Melina Vostokoff, the Iron Maiden.
“Working with all the people I work with, especially Robert Downey, Jr., was like the highlight of my time in LA so far,” she says.
On Iron Man 2, Munn worked with Downey and other big names, including Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Gwyneth Paltrow. At the same time, she was filming Date Night with Mark Wahlberg, Steve Carell, James Franco and her Hollywood inspiration, Tina Fey. Date Night hits theaters in April 2010.
“I didn’t necessarily get star-stuck, but what does happen is you get nervous. You think, ‘What if I’m not good enough, funny enough, quick enough, smart enough?’” says Munn.
Her blast of fame won’t be in reserve until this summer, though. Since the reveal of her role in Iron Man 2, Munn’s popularity exploded, making appearances on talk shows, being featured on the covers of Playboy and, soon Maxim. She is writing a book, and has her own magazine.
But staying true to herself is something Munn really values. In fact, her Hollywood inspiration, Tina Fey, does just that, Munn says. “Sometime you can lose the one thing you have, and that is you. Even though I have hair and makeup and am in that whole world, I am a geek.”
She loves that her work for Attack of the Show is live, and she is able to be herself. “Sometimes messing up is the best thing. People want to see realness,” Munn explains.
As for her experience as a Playboy cover girl: “Never again.” After an agreement for no nudity, the photographer and stylist tried to press Munn to show a little more. “It was supposed to be fun, and awesome, and just a regular shoot, and here these people are trying to push me into something I’m not happy with,” says Munn.
“I don’t see a point of me doing Playboy again,” she says. But Munn says she is happy to be the girl who eats carbs and dessert, making it onto magazine covers and changing the image of “sexy” for young girls. She would like to see “more images of girls who are more real,” rather than “the girls who get the crap in their lips, and nose jobs, and the boob jobs.”
“Being a sex icon is a big phrase and I would never call myself that,” says Munn.
Munn’s very own MyMag, a magazine all about her, is now available. Readers will find photos from a shoot that Munn art-directed. “The theme is Olivia raw – stripped down, just me.” The magazine will also have responses to fan mail, 25 things you don’t know about Olivia Munn, and excerpts from her book, Suck It, Wonder Woman!: The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek. The book, a collection of stories from her life, will be on sale in July.
“Sometimes people like to play it safe. Open your mind,” Munn says. “You know what – my jokes may fail. I’m just trying to entertain.”
