IT'S A BOY GAEL THING

Dec 19 2006 Exclusive by Marie Croce

She's the Hollywood star with the Gaelic name and Samaire Armstrong reckons having Scots roots helped her kick drugs

SHE may only be 26 but actress Samaire Armstrong has already packed a lot into her young life from TV and movie roles to even a spot in rehab.

Samaire, best known for starring in hit telly series The OC, had an unusual upbringing, travelling the world with her Scottish dad Hunter and Italian mum Sylvia.

She's found success in acting and is starring in new movie It's A Boy Girl Thing, but until fairly recently battled with a cocaine problem.

But she says she has her father's fighting spirit which helped her kick drugs. Samaire, pronounced Sah-mee-rah, means "dawning sun" in Gaelic and the actress is proud of her Scottish roots.

"I've inherited my dad's strength," she said. "And something about the music - and the cold. Something about that I can feel in my blood.

"I'm strong and I'm a fighter." Her dad studied combative behaviour and martial arts and now teaches soldiers close combat training. He's currently training the Australian army.

"The antithesis of my dad is my mother," said Samaire.

"They've been married for 30 years. She designs spas for resorts. So she's the healer and he's the warrior."

Samaire was born in Tokyo but the family moved to Hawaii then California and Arizona. They've also lived in Malaysia and China.

Moving around meant Samaire was often the new girl at school, so when she landed the role of Anna in The OC, it fitted like a glove.

"I felt like I duped everyone because I wasn't really acting," she said. "It was a blast playing that role."

The OC may be coming to an end, but Samaire has lots to keep her busy. She's also appeared in Entourage, ER and the movie Just My Luck with Lindsay Lohan.

Now she's starring alongside Kevin Zegers in gender swap teen movie It's A Boy Girl Thing, which premiered in London last night. She plays a girl who switches bodies with a boy she hates.

Alongside her movie and TV work, she's developed her own clothing line called Naru, and also sings in a band.

But only recently she's seeing the world in a different light after kicking drugs.

"That was the turning point," she admitted. "I started smoking marijuana in high school. They say that's the gateway drug. It's the most easily accessible and most commonly used drug. It's also the most acceptable. But then you're smoking cigarettes or you're doing cocaine or doing alcohol.

"If you're not paying attention to your dreams, that's your addiction."

For Samaire, the problem was cocaine. "I was doing it for a few years then I wanted to stop, then I was stopping, then I'd start and stop, then start and stop," she said.

"Then I committed to stopping at the beginning of last year. Then I couldn't stop. Then I decided in June I was going into rehab and that's when I stopped forever.

"It was a moment of clarity before rock bottom which was really lucky for me. I hid it from my family for a while, then I was honest and up-front." She's not the only one to have suffered addiction in her family. "My Italian grandfather died from cigarette cancer and that's an addiction," she revealed. "My Scots grandmother was an alcoholic and that's an addiction. I feel I nailed it at 25."

The decision to give up drugs is still fresh in her memory, although perhaps it's down to her spell in rehab that she talks about fate and how this was meant to happen.

"I don't think it was my choice alone," said Samaire. "I think it was the universe's time for me to change.

"But it's a brand new world. It's nothing like I've ever experienced. It's like I still have that imagination that I had, but now I have the clarity of becoming a mature adult.

"It's a clarity of no drugs, no alcohol, no late nights. I think that's an important thing to have to pursue your dreams."

She turned down the role in It's A Boy Girl Thing three times until she was eventually persuaded to do it by her Italian grandmother, surprisingly because her granny thought she should work with the film's producer Elton John. "He's a living legend and I would have been silly to have let this pass," said Samaire.

The actress became friends with Elton and his partner David Furnish.

In fact, she ended up having a joint birthday party with David.

"That was an event to go to," she said. "I was spoiled. I couldn't believe it. They sure know how to throw a party."

Samaire also went to their wedding. "I sat in the front row next to Prince Edward and Fergie and the Osbournes. It was a beautiful, honourable event to be at," she said.

One day, she hopes to tie the knot herself, although it doesn't sound like it's imminent.

"I sure hope one day to walk down the aisle and they'll be playing Ave Maria in the background," she said.

She's been romantically linked to actor Aaron Paul, whom she met five years ago on The X-Files. Now she's dating a man called Dylan who works in the medical industry.

In her new movie, she enjoyed portraying a boy trapped in a girl's body. She said: "It was uncomfortable but a lot of fun."

She's been given a little insight into what life might be like for boys, but she's really quite happy in her own skin.

"I think it's quite nice to be a girl," she said. "I'd rather be reading Romeo and Juliet than playing football any day.

"I spent a lot of time making fun of Kevin Zegers in the film and talking to my brother a lot to get tips from him.

"At the time, I was 24 playing a 16-year-old girl playing a boy. It was confusing but it was alot of fun. We'd ask ourselves, 'What are we doing here?'"

She's also worked alongside Lucy Liu in supernatural thriller Rise and will be appearing with Treat Williams in The Staircase.

And finally she can feel her life is back on track after drugs took her off the rails.

"I think it's a wrench that you can throw into your dreams," she said. "If you're frightened of achieving your dreams, you self-destruct."

Samaire still seems down to earth despite her increasing fame.

"People are pretty nice and say hello when they recognise me and ask for an autograph," she said. "I don't feel under pressure to look a particular way. I look goofy no matter what."

And she doesn't mind admitting she gets it wrong sometimes.

Samaire said: "Jeremy Pivern gave me the best advice when he said, 'Don't be afraid to make mistakes' when I messed up a take when we were filming. He said: 'That's what real life's about'."

Although Samaire was talking about acting when she recalled her fellow actor's advice, the statement could have been applied to her life.

She's made her mistakes with drugs, but she's moved on. Her conversation sometimes gets a little weighed down in fatalistic talk of the universe having an affect on her life, but she comes across as sweet-natured.

"Whatever dreams you can create can come true, but going off the rails was throwing a wrench into it," she said.

"When I travelled around the world when I was young, I had a lack of direction."Once you give into the universe, that's when you're really at peace. There's so much struggle within yourself - within myself I should say. It's so hard to just remember to breathe."

It's A Boy Girl Thing is released on Boxing Day.