Movies

Tracy Phillips' life may have turned out different had her father been, say, a basketball coach.

Universal

Tracy Phillips, daughter of Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips, stars in Charlie Wilson's War.

Instead, her father, Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips, coached football, a sport that's a little tough for girls to participate in. And his daughter became a dancer.

Her love of performing brought her to Hollywood, where she has starred in music videos (most notably for My Chemical Romance's "Helena") and done choreography work. But her biggest break came when she landed the role of a belly dancer whom Tom Hanks' title character employs as a way to distract a high-level official while he negotiate an arms deal in Charlie Wilson's War, out Friday.

In a recent telephone conversation, Ms. Phillips discussed dancing, her love of the Cowboys and what it was like to work with all those Oscar winners.

So how did you land a role in this movie?

Fatima Robinson was hired as the choreographer, and I had worked with her many times before and she recommended me for [director] Mike Nichols – she thought I was the perfect person and what he was looking for. So she taped me, and we sent him the tape and then I went in for an interview and spoke to him. And that day they said, You got it!"

Have you done much belly dancing before?

I had done minimal belly dancing prior to this. But I am a dancer – I've danced my whole life – I am pretty adept at learning different kinds of movement. ... It was all pretty natural to me – I didn't feel like it was a stretch for me to do that style of dance.

So what was it like working with Tom Hanks?

Oh my gosh – he's just exceptional. He's an exceptional person and an exceptional talent, obviously. I couldn't ask to be around greater people with everybody involved. I mean, Mike Nichols, Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, everybody was just so kind. It was an amazing experience for me.

Any funny stories from the set?

I found it funny that [Charlie Wilson's War screenwriter] Aaron Sorkin was teasing me about the dancing because he didn't want his dialog to be covered up too much. He was giving me a hard time about that, and then I saw him at the premiere and he said, "Oh the dancing was so great," and "You were great." And I said, "Oh, you don't care about the dancing." And he said, "No! I was just giving you a hard time. I just didn't want my dialog to be upstaged."

When you're not working in movies, you're a choreographer and dancer. How did you break into that?

I started dancing when I was 3, and I just loved it. I loved being onstage and I loved performing. So I think it was just what I always wanted to do.

Do you have aspirations of continuing with movies?

Yeah, I would love to. I had such an amazing time. Of course, I know that that was real special in the sense of the people I was fortunate enough to work with. I love performing and entertaining, so whenever I get the opportunity to do that, I'm happy.

So how closely do you follow the Cowboys?

I watch every game! I mean, I watch every game, I read sports blogs, I go on dallascowboys.com all the time. I grew up with football. It becomes important when it's not just a livelihood, but when your life depends on it – whether you're going to move to a different city, or if you're gonna get fired. ... I'm really invested.

Well at least this season has been a fun one to be a part of?

Oh yeah, it's been a really fun season. You have to take advantage of those when they happen, because it's rare when you have winning seasons. They've been fortunate to do so well.