Cedric The Entertainer & Gabrielle Union: set the record straight about The Honeymooners and their unexpected next big moves

GABRIELLE Union can almost burn a hole through you with her unique, intense stare. And don't let her start rubbernecking.

Cedric The Entertainer, on the other hand, has one of the most disarming smiles of any entertainer in Hollywood. He has an uncanny ability to warm even a dejected soul.

Union waves her hands back and forth and smiles broadly and proclaims: "I smile a lot. I'm really easygoing in my everyday life." She thinks some fans took to heart her no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners attitude displayed in the movie Deliver Us From Eva.

"People are always shocked [that she's friendly]," she says. "I was just in Miami, and people were like, "I didn't know you liked to party.' And I said, 'Well, I do like to go out and have a good time.' I smile a lot. I'm easygoing. I don't take myself seriously all the time. Even though I look serious, I'm not as serious as people think."

Cedric doesn't need to say anything to get people to smile and laugh out loud. He can make a person giddy within seconds, without uttering a word. He's been doing it since high school in St. Louis.

Together, Union and Cedric The Entertainer (born Cedric Kyles) are warming up audiences with a new Hollywood take on The Honeymooners, the classic TV series that starred Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows.

That '50s show followed the comic adventures of bus driver Ralph Kramden (Gleason) and his wife Alice (Meadows) along with their Brooklyn neighbors, the Nortons (Art Carney and Joyce Randolph).

Taking a legendary, much-beloved series and turning it into a movie with Black performers might raise a few eyebrows of nostalgia buffs. But Cedric simply took it as an honor, not a challenge. "The studio head came and thought I was the only person really to capture the essence of Jackie Gleason. I look at that as an honor," he says. "I think Jackie Gleason was definitely one of the great comedians of ours in America. He created, wrote and produced the shows. And he was a funny dude. He was a big man who was agile. He could dance and dress a bit."

Union feels there's a bit of pressure by changing the dynamics from a White TV sitcom to a Black-dominated movie. "The pressure was added when you change it so drastically and make all of us Black," she points out. "For a lot of people it might be a big deal. For people who understand the essence of the show, it's about getting out of a bad situation. For people who understand that part of the show, it won't be such a big leap. It's a universal theme. I don't know any people who are totally happy where they are, except maybe Donald Trump."

She may not have the resources of Trump, but Union is one of Hollywood's busiest and most recognizable actresses. Hollywood wasn't even a blip on her radar while growing up in Omaha, Neb. She had always seen herself embracing idealism as a hard-charging lawyer. All of that changed when she transferred from the University of Nebraska, where she was a soccer player, to UCLA. She moved to California because her immediate family had gone West and she didn't want to be too far from them.

While a sociology major at UCLA, Union worked at the campus bookstore, where she could brag about earning a whopping $6.16 per hour. She also landed a fortuitous internship at a modeling agency. "I was office help, making copies and calling appointments," she recalls. "When the internship ended, they asked if I would consider modeling. I was still working at the bookstore, and was like, 'Someone is going to pay me to stand around and smile? Sure!'"

Union immediately landed modeling assignments with outlets such as Teen magazine. Several weeks later, she was asked if she would consider going out for TV and movie auditions. "The man I had been interning for said, 'Well let's just see what would happen if we sent you on auditions. You can read and you have a personality. Let's just see what happens.' I was like, 'They're going to know I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not an actor.' But he said, 'Trust me, they won't [know].'"

And they apparently didn't. She immediately landed a job on the long-running TV series Saved by the Bell. That was followed by appearances on Moesha, The Smart Guy, Sister, Sister and The Steve Harvey Show, where she met Cedric for the first time. Soon, she had a recurring role on Seventh Heaven.

Gabrielle's momentum propelled her to the big screen as well. She starred in Love and Basketball and 10 Things I Hate About You, both in 1999. The following year, hers was a name mentioned coast to coast when she joined Kirsten Dunst in the successful and surprise hit Bring It On.

In that film, Union was a sassy Compton, Calif., cheerleader who led her squad into national competition. And because Bring It On was so successful, Union points out that some moviegoers still think she's a teenager. Additionally, she also performed in The Brothers, Welcome to Collinwood, Abandon and Deliver Us From Eva.