By Tonisha Johnson

Are you guys excited with the finished product?

Khadijah: We’re both very, very excited. We saw the film just this past Sunday at the premiere. And we were pleasantly surprised at how funny and how great the graphics turned out.

How did you both get involved with the film?

Khadijah: Pretty much, we just went out and auditioned for it. The description of the character was pretty broad. They said that Penny could be played by a single twin or a triple.

Malika: Mmm…

Khadijah: We were a little worried that maybe we should have had a triplet to make a better impression. But it turned out pretty well. We got to go in an audition a few times and saw the director. And we gave Penny her character.

Malika: Yup. We gave Penny her character and the rest was great Sky High history.

Did you have to do any special training for the role?

Malika: We did. We umm, worked with this stunt coordinator for 3 weeks prior to actually filming. We had a cheerleading coach. We both had done cheerleading before. It was more of the routines and stunts and working on the flying and stuff like that.

How was it working on the set? Did you film in one place or did you have to shoot scenes in different places?

Malika: Actually, it was quite convenient being that we live in L.A. We were filming in a big sound stage in a Disney location. They built really great sets on a sound stage.

I’m sure being in this film has made you wonder “what if”. If you could have a special power what would it be?

Khadijah: I would have to say that we’d always thought that if we had a triplet that we’d be really jealous of her for that reason we just like being twins, but, I think multiplying would be really cool. After seeing Sky High, in its entirety, I think it would be cool to become, like, 10 of us. I don’t think the world would be ready for that but I think it would be really cool to multiply. I don’t know Malika, what do you think of that? What would your Super Power be?

Malika: I think my power would be…I would love to be invisible. I would love to disappear and no one would even know I was there.

Of course there were special effects; can you talk about what you did in particular with the role?

Khadijah: Kind of making the multiplying come to life, while filming we did a lot of green screen work. In different takes we would stand in different positions and kind of do our cheerleading routines. Whether it was a kick or a spin or whatever it was…we had to use a green screen.

What was the best part of the film for you both?

Malika: The best part of the film was working with my sister. And being able to give one character so much depth. Penny had so many different angles to her because she’s played by two different people.

Are there times we’re you get to work by yourselves as oppose to doing the “twin” thing?

Khadijah: There are times that we do get to work by ourselves. Right now we are. So far we have not done feature films. Right now we are really pushing the twin act. We really enjoy working together much more than working by ourselves. But there have been times like Malika has done a McDonalds commercial by herself. I’ve had a few TV appearances. And, you know, we just like to do it for the experience. But right now, we really enjoy working together. Actually, we’re really blessed to be able to work on projects together.

How do you fit all of this into your regular life?

Malika: Our family and our friends are all priorities to us. So, we make it work. It’s not an inconvience to us. Working is not an inconenient and spending time with our family is not an inconvenient. Our career requires a lot of traveling. I said to my sister early in the day, if you think about it, in the last 2 weeks we’ve done a lot of traveling. But it’s a sacrifice you have to make to be able to have the career that we have and have the people in our lives to support us in our careers. So, it actually works out pretty well for us.

Are you the only set of twins in your family?

Khadijah: We’re not. Actually my mother has two sets of twins. We have twin sisters and a brother in the middle. And we have a niece and nephew that are twins.

Are they all into acting like you guys?

Khadijah and Malika: No.

Khadijah: We’re the only actresses in the family. We’ve got doctors and insurance lawyers. We’ve got everything.

Does your mom travel with you?

Khadijah: My mom is actually on vacation right now. We’re filming in Atlanta right now. So my mom is actually going to be coming out and visiting us. As of right now, we do our traveling collectively. As long as we have each other we make it through ok.

What’s the film you guys are working on?

Khadijah: As of right now, it’s called the untitled Chris Robinson project. We’re hoping to get the name Jellybean. It’s a movie produced by Will Smith. And the lead guy is T.I. the rapper. And the movie is kind of based in Atlanta. It’s about teens in Atlanta. In the inner city, roller skating is really big. It’s the performance that you get on roller skating that makes it way more interesting. So, we’re learning how to roller skate right now. And learn routines and meeting new people and being away from home. It’s a really different experience.

Malika: But we’re having a lot of fun doing it.

How was it meeting and working with Will Smith and T.I.?

Khadijah: We’ve been rehearsing with T.I. almost everyday. We’ve been filming with T.I. as well. We have not met Will Smith yet.

How old are you both?

Malika: We’re 22.

Are you looking to expand into something more adult or are you going to continue to stay in the younger market?

Malika: I think Khadijah and I are blessed to look younger than our age. And have the opportunity to work in a kid market because it gives us more longevity in our career. We believe that when it’s time for us to step into the more adult work, on PG-13 type movies then it will happen. But right now we’re not really in a rush for it. We’re comfortable and we love the kids.

You both are so cheery, which works well with your Sky High role. We’re are you originally from?

Malika: We’re from California. We’re valley girls.

What do you do when you’re not acting?

Malika: Khadijah and I love to bowl. We love to shop. We love to travel. And we love to just be with our family.

How did you both get started in acting?

Khadijah: My mother played a major role in our careers as far as when we stared out. I think our first job at 9 months old we played a baby that was actually born in an elevator.  We did a lot of prep work when we were younger. We did a lot of commercials and as we were kind of going through the adolescence of being teenage girls, we got to take the turn and decide for ourselves what we wanted to do. And we got a little older and decided we definitely wanted acting to be our career choice. And we’re thankful for our mother because, without her putting us in it, and having to experience it first, we wouldn’t have known that we wanted it to be a career choice.

Besides the film in Atlanta; what’s next for you guys?

Malika: Well, we’re going to finish up the film in Atlanta and hopefully we’ll do some more auditions. And hopefully do some more movies in 2006. And maybe get into some television as well.