34-year old actress-firecracker Stephanie Beran [1][2][3] makes her Nude Debut (Brief Butt) for hubby & film producer-writer-director-star Scott Martin, Tsailii Rogers, Sarah Minnich, Audrey Walters & Elizabeth McLaughlin in Big Kill (2018)
One part in “Big Kill” calls for Beran to do a nude scene with co-star Clint Hummel, who is also a close friend.
“It’s a really interesting thing to do,” she says. “It’s more like, leading up to it you’re nervous and it feels weird. … But once they call ‘action,’ it’s not me anymore. I’m doing my job, and I’m in the moment as Felicia, and all the anxiety falls away.”
Still, it was a little odd.
“It was interesting to have my husband direct me while I make out with his best friend in the nude,” she says.
Mega.Co.Nz
Stephanie Michelle Beran was born a California girl. At 9 months old, her parents moved to St. Louis, Missouri and she was raised a Midwest girl.
Stephanie attended college at Missouri State University. She graduated, with honors, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Entertainment Management and a Minor in Theatre. Stephanie furthered her academic education by obtaining a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Business/Marketing.
Upon graduating from MSU, Stephanie returned to California to concentrate on a career in Film and Television.
Working frequently in Los Angeles, she can be seen in Battle Force, a WWII action film from Lionsgate. Another project found her opposite Jason London and Kevin Sorbo in the feature film, Fatal Call.
Stephanie is passionate about Martial Arts, Health, and Fitness. She has trained Muay Thai for 4 years with a professional title holding fighter.
Stephanie is also a PADI Certified SCUBA Diver and enjoys traveling, the beach, rock climbing, hiking, going to the movies, and working on her craft.
Stephanie Beran Interview: St. Louis native returns home with a ‘Big Kill’
Before Stephanie Beran could play a bad-to-the-bone femme fatale on screen, she became one in real life.
By the time the St. Louis native stepped in front of a camera for this week’s western, Big Kill, Beran had achieved a high level of renegade human being. Beran not only acquired a Bachelor of Science Degree at Missouri State University and graduate with honors, but she also obtained a Masters of Business Administration (aka an MBA) in business and marketing.
While she majored in Business, The 31-year-old actress always had a knack for the theater, and it began at an early age. “When I was nine years old, I watched The Starlight Express in Vegas with my parents. I knew right then I wanted to be on stage,” Beran said. “In high school, I got into show choir and did community theater. I think you are born an actor.”
While her love for theater brewed an International Thespian Society Performance Scholarship, Beran also craved the books and a normal life. “I wanted a formal upbringing and college experience. I won the scholarship, but I didn’t want to major in it, because I didn’t feel like it would change the course of my career to have my degree.”
Beran didn’t make it out to Hollywood until she was 25 years old, which she jokingly admitted made her feel a little old at a young age. “It was a different kind of climb the ladder for me, but I wouldn’t change a thing,” Beran said. “I’ve been out to Hollywood, but I am the exact same girl, and that is because I had such a good upbringing.”
The ambition doesn’t end inside the classroom. Having a passion for martial arts and fitness helped fuel her ambition for action-packed roles. Beran also trained for four years in Muay Thai with a professional fighter, and also is a PADI certified scuba diver. Couple this with extensive training at the Oak Tree Gun Club, and the role of Felicia Stiletto in Big Kill surely came natural to Beran‘s abilities.
For Beran, the extracurricular aides her drive to be a female action star. “I’ve always been drawn to roles for tough and strong women, so it was an extra skill for me. I trained with a title-holding fighter,” Beran said. The fighting ability didn’t make her want to climb into the ring, because that’s a whole different career path and it would affect the chief moneymaker, which is the face.
Training in Muay Thai may have started as a fitness exercise and helped her look more convincing on screen, but for Beran, it served as great therapy. According to the actress, the gun practice wasn’t just acquiring a cool skill. “I wanted to be comfortable shooting. I want to know how to hold it properly, load it, and gun safety. If I am on set and a gun is put into my hands, I wanted to know how to use it,” Beran said.
Beran‘s path to Big Kill was more conventional: she’s married to the writer/director/co-star, Scott Martin. “I got involved with Scott about ten years ago in acting class, and we got married in 2014. He knew I was right for the part.” While there was something about getting the role from her husband, Beran loved working with people she cared about and loved.
The western, which is as wild and fun as the trailer suggests, carries the makeup of a passion project and was written 12 years ago. According to Beran, Martin couldn’t let it go. “He was never offered to make it for a lot of money, so we held onto it. Then there was a company that needed westerns, and it all happened very fast.”
Archstone Pictures produced the film and will be distributing it as well, rolling out this week. Big Kill opens in St. Louis this Friday at Marcus Chesterfield Galaxy, and Beran and Miller will attend a screening of the film on opening night.
For Beran, attending a movie premiere in her hometown is a dream come true that should be registered and not taken for granted. “I feel like we all need to celebrate the moments and the wins, because they are few and far in-between,” Beran said. “It’s really cool to be going home and have your family come out to your show. I just hope it doesn’t snow!”
Life is trying to catch up with Beran. For most people, it’s the other way around. As she gets into her 30’s, the actress has already achieved what many hope to accomplish in a lifetime. Acquiring the seeds of theater desire at a young age, she plotted her course wisely, acquiring a healthy dose of schooling before stepping off into the world of make believe.
On Friday night in front of her hometown, as well as a short drive from Paul Manno’s, Beran‘s career will come full circle as she debuts Big Kill, an indie film with a lot of heart and passion stuffed inside.
One could say heart, passion, and a good head on her shoulders has prepared Beran for the biggest stage of all.
Westerns are new to Chesterfield actress, who appears in ‘Big Kill’
Some high school students with a theatrical inclination study and plan for the International Thespian Society Scholarship for years.
Stephanie Beran applied almost on a whim. As a student at Marquette High School in Chesterfield, she learned the two monologues for her audition on the bus ride to the regional audition.
“My mom really pushed me and said, ‘All right, young lady, you’re going to do it whether you want to or not,’” Beran says from her home in Los Angeles, where she works as an actress in movies and on television.
She won the scholarship, even though she forgot the words in her comedic monologue. To this day, Beran, 35, considers it one of the proudest moments in her life.
“My teacher was shocked, all my classmates were shocked, because it wasn’t something I had been working on for two years or all my life. That was when I knew that it was what I was supposed to be doing,” she says.
Beran has a supporting role in “Big Kill,” in theaters Friday. She and her husband, Scott Martin, will be at the Marcus Chesterfield Cinema for a screening and will answer audience questions immediately afterward. They also plan to attend a matinee screening Saturday.
Martin is the movie’s writer, director, co-star, producer and co-editor.
“Big Kill” is a Western, but with a modern, ironic sense of humor. Beran plays Felicia Stiletto, a sexy assassin who works for the man who runs the town, an immoral preacher played by Jason Patric. Her last name reflects her weapon of choice.
“She has her own ideas of what she thinks is acceptable and what is right or wrong, but it happens not to be in line with what everyone else thinks is right or wrong,” Beran says.
One of her favorite scenes, she says, involved sniffing and licking the face of co-star Christoph Sanders, who plays one of the three protagonists. Sanders didn’t know exactly what she was going to do before she did it.
Martin told Beran that her character approached Sanders like “he was a piece of meat. For me, it was like a juicy steak,” she says.
Beran, Martin and Sanders were all in the same LaValle Actor’s Workshop acting class, along with Elizabeth McLaughlin, who plays Sanders’ love interest, and K.C. Clyde, who plays the town’s mayor.
“The teacher just developed amazing actors,” Beran says. “What better thing to do than to work with people you love and want to work with, but are also super talented and right for the part?”
Various members of the group have made several films together. Beran and Martin are one of seven couples who met in the class and are now married, she says.
One part in “Big Kill” calls for Beran to do a nude scene with co-star Clint Hummel, who is also a close friend.
“It’s a really interesting thing to do,” she says. “It’s more like, leading up to it you’re nervous and it feels weird. … But once they call ‘action,’ it’s not me anymore. I’m doing my job, and I’m in the moment as Felicia, and all the anxiety falls away.”
Still, it was a little odd.
“It was interesting to have my husband direct me while I make out with his best friend in the nude,” she says.
Martin wrote the script 12 years ago, but the time was never right to shoot it. Then, late last year, everything suddenly fell into place, from the financing to the availability of the actors.
Among the actors is Lou Diamond Phillips, who is in one of Martin’s favorite movies, “Young Guns.” In fact, the set located in New Mexico that was used in “Big Kill” was also used in “Young Guns II.” Beran says that Phillips regaled the cast and crew with memories of shooting that film there.
Martin is a huge fan of Westerns, but Beran wasn’t, she says.
“It was a little bit nerve-wracking, because obviously there is some language that I was not familiar with,” she says.
So she did research by watching classic Westerns.
“‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.’ I absolutely loved it. ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,’ not so much. Not for me.”
