Rena Riffel (born March 5, 1969) is an American actress, singer, dancer, model, writer, producer, and director.
Riffel landed her breakthrough role in the 1995 film Showgirls starring Elizabeth Berkley, Gina Gershon, and Kyle MacLachlan.
While on the set of Showgirls, Riffel approached the music supervisor with a song she recorded, "Deep Kiss".
The music supervisor tested the song on the production office (without telling them it had been written by one of the actresses) to determine if it was suitable for the film.
Director Paul Verhoeven listened to the song and decided to include it in the lap dance scene at the Cheetah strip club.
[2] For the 2004 re-release as a DVD limited edition box set, Riffel, along with cast members Lin Tucci and Patrick Bristow, had their hand prints and names put in cement in front of the Hollywood Vista Theater at the red carpet event where they were also interviewed by Access Hollywood.
To avoid any association between the two films, advertisements projected Striptease as more comedic than Showgirls, which had been marketed as a drama.
Aside from a common context, Striptease and Showgirls shared two notable connections: Marguerite Derricks choreographed both films, and Rena Riffel played a prominent role in each.
It’s been a while – I’d like to watch it again….one website put a lot of clarity on it with their theories.”[5] After Striptease, Riffel accepted minor roles on the television series Married... with Children in 1997, and Clueless as well as the HBO movie Breast Men before making a string of films with European director Lloyd Simandl.
Riffel also appeared in several horror/thriller movies including Candyman 3: Day of the Dead, Unstable Minds, and Dark Reel starring Edward Furlong and Tony Todd.
According to the text trivia track on the 2010 Blu-ray release of Showgirls, one of the songs played during the film's lap-dance sequence was co-written by Riffel.
In 2004, Riffel's song "Geisha Girl" was featured in Oliver Robbins film Wild Roomies.
Judy Feathers is the perfect housewife with a secret of being a cannibal, killing then serving the milkman, postman, sailor, and a boyscout for dinner.
The film, now titled Showgirls 2: Penny's from Heaven received favorable reviews, with references made to David Lynch's Inland Empire by CraveOnline.com and LA Weekly.