Rising Star: Amanda Crew

Zac Efron wouldn’t risk his life for just anyone – but AccessHollywood.com’s newest rising star, Amanda Crew, had one of Hollywood’s hottest young stars sailing the seas for her in their new ghostly love story, “Charlie St. Cloud.”

After landing roles in the raunchy teen comedy, “Sex Drive,” and the eerie “Haunting In Connecticut,” Amanda landed the highly coveted role opposite Zac – which required her to hit the open waters in a sailboat – a skill that didn’t quite come quickly to her at first.

“Usually [the sailing scenes were] all movie magic. It was rigged to a bigger boat and we’re pretending we’re sailing, but at that one point, [the director needed] a wider shot. It was so windy and I was so scared, but Zac he knew exactly what he was doing,” Amanda told Access. “I was just following what he was doing, but it was so much fun and then all of a sudden you realize, ‘We’re sailing on our own right now!’ It was really cool!”

Amanda’s hard work paid off and she turned in a memorable and moving performance as young sailor Tess Carroll, who is planning to circumnavigate the globe all by herself. Her breakout performance couldn’t have made her family and friends more proud. When Access caught up with the actress earlier this month in LA, she shared the fact that her big premiere moment on the red carpet brought her loved ones to tears.

“It’s just cool to share the experience with everyone because they’re why I am here,” she said of her mom, dad (who was fighting back his tears when we interviewed her), sister and roommate. “You know, that support group.”

Amanda told Access that she also had Zac in corner when it came the movie’s numerous romantic scenes – which weren’t as hot and steamy to film as some viewers might think they were.

“We’d become really good friends so… I wasn’t nervous. He puts you at ease pretty easily,” Amanda said of her intimate moments with Zac. “Everyone thinks it’s this really big romantic thing. All these lights are there, there’s a bunch of people watching, there’s a camera in your face, it’s not this heated moment that you can get really pulled into. It’s very technical.”

“Charlie St. Cloud,” which opens in theaters Friday, is far from the end of the journey for Amanda. Next up, she’ll kick up the edge factor on the big screen in “Repeaters” with former “90210” star Dustin Milligan, where she’ll play an addict in rehab dealing with a supernatural phenomenon. Amanda also has the thriller “Breaking The Girl” co-starring “Glee’s” Cory Monteith in the works.

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