If you don't count extra body fat, Caroline D'Amore has it all. At 23, the Malibu-bred socialite is an in-demand model and DJ; she's also a bikini designer and owns a pizzeria within her family's
D'Amore's Pizza Connection chain; and she's already been immortalized on TMZ as the giggling girl in Brandon Davis' infamous "fire crotch" video.
Ask her how she met fiancé, filmmaker Matthew Ross, and she can come off as a poor little rich girl. (She had fallen asleep in a limo after a DJ shift when her friend woke her up to drag along to Guy's bar, where she met her future hubby.) But when it comes to her successes, there's no doubt she works hard. Like any artist, she's impulsive, passionate and—surprise, surprise—not always sure of herself.
Perhaps that's why her ego hasn't ballooned to epic proportions. Not only did she give me her number, but she also answers her own calls—as opposed to a publicist/agent/manager controlling who she talks to and what about. D'Amore and I caught up between fashion-show fittings and rehearsals for the play "
Pieces (of Ass)."
What prompted your DJ career?I was doing a play for the same director [as "Pieces (of Ass)"], called "Boys Dumb / Girls Crazy." He calls me one night and says, "I'm doing a show at the
El Rey, Janice Dickinson’s one-woman show, and I need a really hot female DJ as part of the show." I was like, "I'm a DJ." I fully lied to get the job. He was like, "Really? OK, you're hired."
Did you even have turntables?I went out that day and got $5,000 worth of equipment and called up everyone I knew—DJ AM, Sam Ronson—and was like, "Help!" Sam kind of let me watch a little bit. I basically just taught myself […] exactly everything I needed to know to get through the show.
Were you nervous?I was so nervous. Are you kidding me? It's the way I do things, though. I go headfirst, and then I have I have no choice but to get myself out of it gracefully. I just wake up one day and say, "I'm doing this." End of story.
How would you describe your DJ style?You know, it's really complicated. If I were going to DJ in Miami, I’m not going to play rock 'n' roll, because they're going to throw stones at me.
What’s your favorite place to DJ in L.A.?I love DJ-ing at
the Bar; it's this tiny little bar.
What kind of set would you play for that crowd?New rock 'n' roll mixed with the classics. Some '80s maybe, some '90s hip-hop like De La Soul or Too Short. I like to play some of the new indie stuff, like the Knife.
Hot Chip's new songs are great.
M.I.A. "Paper Planes" is one of my favorite songs out right now.
Models have signature moves, like the ear-tug or the sexy wink. I've seen you lip-synch as you make your way down the catwalk. Is that the Caroline signature?I do? One other person has said that. I definitely wouldn't have been able to get away with that at Stella McCartney or Diane von Furstenberg. But like, Heatherette and Meghan Fabulous [are different]. At the Meghan Fabulous show, I had my turntables on the runway [and then] I ripped my headphones off and walked. It was really cute.
In addition to modeling for swimsuit designer Ashley Paige, you also have your own bikini line, D'Amore by Marceau.There are pictures of me modeling it on my MySpace page. They're really wild, like '80s and '70s. I did a show at the Playboy mansion. It was a really classy event. Denise Richards hosted it…for the Nicole Brown Foundation. It was my line, and it was really amazing.
Between DJ'ing, modeling and designing, how do you have time to act?All my peers that are actors are like, "She does too many things." That’s one of the biggest things I hear from people. But all I want is to be on set. I would give up everything else.
Has anyone been rude to you?I've always been scared to say, "I'm an actress." I finally had a fairly well-known actor kind of make me feel really bad about that, like you need to own your craft. It's hard being around these actors that are so great [and have them ask] "What've you been in?"
You have your movie "Pizza with Bullets," where you play Lisa Tortellini. What else are you working on?I just did a pilot called "The Clinic." It's like a Hollywood mockumentary.
And your fiancé is a writer/director? He's insanely talented and just got signed to William Morris. We actually wrote a treatment together loosely based around my life, about a female DJ.
Will you still DJ when acting takes over your career?I absolutely love fooling around and making people dance. I like to get everybody going.
See Caroline D'Amore at the W's Vinyl Vixens party on Thursday, April 3.Alexandra Le Tellier is Bars & Clubs editor for Metromix Los Angeles.
