Carrie Underwood pleased with foray into film

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Carrie Underwood's followed the lead of many a country superstar (Tim McGraw, Toby Keith) and made her way into film with upcoming feature Soul Surfer. She told the Associated Press that while she surprised herself as far as acting chops go, fans shouldn't expect her to ditch the job that made her famous any time soon.

"I'm definitely new at this and just doing what's fun right now, and I love my music; that's my first love," she said.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Carrie Underwood thought she'd walk away from her first movie experience vowing to stick to her day job.

But after a recent screening of the upcoming movie Soul Surfer, Underwood found she wasn't as bad as she thought she'd be.

"I really liked how everything turned out, including myself," Underwood said in an interview Tuesday. "I was really expecting the worst from myself, and I really surprised myself."


The Grammy-winning country superstar plays a youth counselor in the film, which is based on the story of Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack.

"It's definitely an uplifting movie," said Underwood. "Everybody would definitely feel a lot better coming out than they did coming in."

Although she gives herself good marks for her work on the film, Underwood said she's not ready to carry a movie just yet.

"There are people that are absolutely amazing actors and actresses, and I am not one of those, though who's to say one day; you never know, maybe I will be," she said. "But I'm definitely new at this and just doing what's fun right now, and I love my music; that's my first love."

The second stage of her "Play On" tour starts Sept. 25 in Portland, Ore., sponsored by Olay; she became the company's first North American spokeswoman Wednesday.

It will be Underwood's first tour since her summer wedding to professional hockey player Mike Fisher.

"It's kind of like my season, my tour, starts the same time his season does. It will definitely be a challenge but we love each other and we love what we do, so there's no reason we can't have it all," she said. "Next year will be an easier year for me. As soon as my tour is over, I'll be hanging out with him a lot more."

Underwood will host the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 10 with Brad Paisley. While she's nominated for female vocalist and album of the year for Play On, some fans wanted her to get a nomination for entertainer of the year, the show's highest honor.

"I'd like to see that, too," she laughed. "I'm not going to lie."

But the 27-year-old said she's not upset about being excluded, and she's happy for all her friends who were nominated.

"Every single year it's all about celebrating a great year in country music because every single year it just gets better and better and stronger and stronger," she said. "I'm excited about my nominations and I think it's going to be a good night for a lot of people."