Russian actress Yuliya Snigir plays a woman who's not what she seems to be in the new action movie "A Good Day to Die Hard." It's a perfect fit for the 29-year-old actress.

Behind her stunning looks is a woman who was playing chess professionally at 15 and was awarded the title of Candidate of Master by the World Chess Federation. She never went after a modeling career. She was teaching English in a nursery school when a friend showed her picture to a modeling agency.

"Playing chess was something that my parents wanted more than me," Snigir says with the slightest of Russian accents. "And, when the modeling offer came, I was more determined to study acting. I did some modeling while I was studying, but it was more like a hobby for me."

Her chess background won't go to a complete waste. Snigir explains that being able to look at a situation, evaluate it and then react is a lot like directing.

She wants to direct, and she is writing a screenplay that could be her big directing project. But she's not in a rush to move behind the camera. A director, to the actress, needs the maturity that comes with a lot of work experience and, for now, she's concentrating on acting.

Snigir believes that life gives us points where we must make decisions as to which path we want to take. Faced with the choice of a life in modeling or chasing her love of acting, she opted to leave the runway behind. It's a decision she's never regretted. She's been working as an actor since 2006, mostly in Russia. "A Good Day to Die Hard" is her introduction to American film fans.

It's interesting that the latest "Die Hard" movie is her debut because she was only 5 years old when the original "Die Hard" was released. We talk about what it was like for her to work with Bruce Willis. The main thing she wanted to know was how he found balance between doing serious heroic action movies and comedies.

"There are not so many actors who can do both, who can be so natural in both," Snigir says.

Irina is a complicated character, which is what made the role so interesting to Snigir.

"Usually, I'm interested in these kind of roles when you can never understand what is black and what is white," Snigir says. "I don't like movies when everything is black and white, yes and no, everything is clear. Bad guy. Good guy. It's not that interesting because in real life, it's not like that."

There's certainly nothing strictly black and white with Snigir.

Listening to Mom's advice

Mothers used to tell their children they should always wear clean underwear in case they ended up at the doctor's office.

These days, motherly advise about underwear -- especially those with daughters who are young, attractive actors -- has a lot more to do with media attention.

In the movie "Beautiful Creatures," Emmy Rossum plays a seductive young witch. The characters in the film often talk about things there mother told them.

"She always tells me to wear underwear," Rossum says. "She's just obsessed with me wearing underwear with short dresses because she's concerned someone is going to shoot up my skirt. It's probably the best advice she's ever given me.

"Sometimes she'll ask me if I'm wearing underwear and I'll say 'yes' and she'll ask me if they are big ones and not just those 'tongs.' When I tell her I'm wearing big underwear, she will say that it's OK for me to wear two pair. And, she doesn't want me to wear flesh colored ones. She wants me to wear ones with polka dots."

Catching up with model/actress Tipton

Analeigh Tipton, who plays Nora, the best friend to the zombie lover in "Warm Bodies," appeared on the 11th edition of the TV reality competition series "America's Next Top Model" and finished third. She fielded five questions about the movie and TV show:

Question: Was being on "America's Next Top Model" a good move?

Answer: I am going to say yes. What "Top Model" gave me was a fan base, which now with social media, name and notoriety sometimes has more draw over talent. Being on the show opened me the door to be in the room to get auditioned.

How cool is it to hold a gun on John Malkovich?

I called my parents and said, "Guess what I get to do?" I'm sure he felt me shaking the first time we did it. I must have been sweating and he must have felt sorry for me.

Do you tweet?

I do. But, they are a little bit off the wall. You have to be OK with some really odd insights at any moment. I'm pretty sure most of my followers think I'm on drugs. I'm not. It's just how I think.

You are both an actress and a model. What's the one thing you would like to be able to do?

Walk in heels as a model. I would love to be an astronaut, but I don't ever want to pay money to go up in space. Hopefully there'll be a movie where I can play an astronaut.

If there was a zombie apocalypse, what's the one thing you would want to save?

My lip pencil. You can use it as blush and on lips.