Briana Barbara-Jane Evigan (born October 23, 1986) is an American actress and dancer. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Andie West in the Step Up series and Cassidy Tappan in Sorority Row. She started dancing at the age of 9 and is still dancing as part of her career today. Evigan has been noted as a Scream Queen for starring in many horror and thriller films, such as Sorority Row, Burning Bright, Mother's Day, The Devil's Carnival, Stash House, and Mine Games.
Early and personal life
Evigan was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Pamela C. Serpe, a dancer, model, and actress, and actor Greg Evigan. She has Polish (from her paternal grandmother), Italian (from her maternal grandfather), and English, ancestry. She is the youngest of three siblings, with brother Jason and sister Vanessa Lee. She has studied dance since she was nine. She is one of the singers and plays keyboards in the group Moorish Idol. She also undertook a speech and communication degree at Los Angeles Valley College. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
Career
A professional dancer, Evigan has appeared in music videos for Linkin Park, Flo Rida, T-Pain and Enrique Iglesias. She has also had small roles in television series and films such as Bottom's Up, Something Sweet and Fear Itself.
In 2008, she won the breakout role of Andie West in the sequel to the 2006 dance drama Step Up, Step Up 2: The Streets. Filming took place in late 2007 in Baltimore and was released February 14, 2008. The film, which met with negative reviews with Rotten Tomatoes (receiving 24%), achieved box office success earning a worldwide gross of $148,424,320. Both Evigan and co-star Robert Hoffman earned the Best Kiss Award at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards.
In 2009, S. Darko, a sequel to the 2001 cult-hit horror Donnie Darko, was released. Evigan played Samantha Darko's best friend, Corey. The film stars James Lafferty and Ed Westwick. A theatrical release was scrapped and was released Straight-to-DVD on May 12, 2009. Unlike Donnie Darko, the film received negative reviews.
In August 2008, Summit Entertainment announced Briana has signed on to portray the central character Cassidy Tappan in the remake of the low-budget horror film Sorority Row. The screenplay was written by Good Luck Chuck writer Josh Stolberg and directed by Stewart Hendler. The film was budgeted at $12,500,000. Briana stars alongside Audrina Patridge, Rumer Willis and Jamie Chung. Sorority Row was released on September 11, 2009 and debuted at No. 6 at the box office and earned worldwide $26,735,797. Critical reception was mixed to negative. Evigan's performance was well received by critics. The leading female cast members earned a ShoWest Award for "Female Stars of Tomorrow" in April 2009. The DVD release was February 23, 2010.
In February 2009, Evigan announced in an interview she has signed on for another remake. The film will be a remake of the cult slasher horror film Mother's Day and will be directed by Darren Lynn Bousman best known for his work with previous Lionsgate films such as the Saw trilogy. Darryn previously directed Briana in an episode of Fear Itself in 2008. The film will co-star A. J. Cook and Jaime King. The film has suffered numerous push backs, and was finally released on May 8, 2012 on DVD and Blu-ray. The film was also part of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
In January 2009, Evigan was confirmed by Lionsgate to star in Burning Bright. She plays the lead female role, Kelly Taylor. In the film, "A young woman and her autistic brother find themselves trapped in their house with a ravenous tiger during a hurricane". Critical reception was extremely positive. Despite this, the film was announced to be released Straight-to-DVD on August 17, 2010.
Evigan played the central character in the indie drama romance film Subject: I Love You.
She stars in The Devil's Carnival, a short film that got a 30 city world tour that began in April 15, 2012.
On 2011, during a UStream, Evigan announced that she was working in a TV series with her family, but no new information has been announced.
In 2014, Evigan reprised her role as Andie West in the fifth installment of the Step Up series, Step Up: All In.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
- Briana Evigan at the Internet Movie Database
