MDC: You started modeling at a young age and then took a very unusual route in the business. Could you share with our readers the story of how your career unfolded?
Rie: I was discovered when I was fifteen. I was in New York on a trip with my father and a scout approached me on Madison Avenue so I thought, "Sure. Why not?" I got a few jobs. I did some traveling but I wasn't really paying attention. I had a different energy back then because you know, I was still exploring my life, my identity. I had very little life experience, very little of my own point of view. Then when I was 16 I found some people with similar interests to mine. We wanted to make movies, explore the ideas we had. I went to California with them. We attended HFI film school, which allowed us to have a crash course in filmmaking. We worked with 35mm cameras because we thought it was really important to learn to operate a camera. To hold it in your hands and get the feeling of this camera as opposed to digital video which they didn't have at the time. We flirted with writing scripts and making little skateboard movies. That matured when I saw what people like Sean Penn and Clint Eastwood had done which was that they used their presence in front of the camera to gain the power to become directors in their own right. That idea really interested me.

MDC: And as fate would have it you end up getting the best education being directed by a legendary director along with heavy hitters like Rebecca Romijn and Antonio Banderas.
Rie: I spent two months on the set with Brian DePalma. I watched everything. Even when I didn't have any scenes I'd hang around just to be able to breathe the air. I loved acting and performing. I desired to make the most of the experience. It was amazing.

The story of your uhm...experiences...