as LaRhette Dudley Dante Basco as Ramos Elijah Kelley as Danjou Jenna Dewan as Sasha Bulut, who is caught in a love triangle with Danjou and Ramos. Laura Benanti as Tina Jasika Nicole as Egypt Brandon D. Andrews as 'Monster', a large and overweight pupil Lauren Collins as Caitlin Marcus T. Paulk as Eddie, a talented DJ Katya Virshilas as Morgan Jonathan Malen as Kurd Shawand McKenzie as Big Girl, Monster's cousin Joseph Pierre as Trey The film also stars Alison Sealy-Smith and Phillip Jarrett as Rock's parents; Jo Chim as Gretchen; Kevin Hanchard as Woodley; Joseph Pierre as Trey; Lyriq Bent as Easy; and Sharron Matthews as Ms. Rosemead. Production Casting Banderas initially turned the producers down; not even bothering to read the script. The thought of ballroom dancing sounded "so cheesy", and he felt the film didn't have much of a story. He said to his agent: "nah, I don't want to do this", but after much persuasion, he agreed to meet with the producers; giving them a chance to at least "explain what" they were "trying to do". Once they showed Banderas a documentary on Pierre Dulaine, he said he "loved" it. He found Dulaine to be "very" fascinating. Many of the "kids" had little or no acting experience prior to being cast in Take the Lead. Brandon Andrews, who portrayed Monster, had just "graduated [from high school] and had "never auditioned [for a film] before". At the time of his discovery, he was playing on the "football team at Dominguez High School in Compton, California". Likewise, the film marked the feature film debut of Yaya DaCosta. Her only acting experience before the film had been starring in an episode of Eve. Lauren Collins was cast under similar circumstances; like DaCosta, Take the Lead was her first feature film. Although she had the advantage of having worked on various TV shows and television movies since 1998, she found the "entire process" of making a feature film different to working on television. On the other hand, Rob Brown was already a fairly established actor. He was studying at college when cast as Jason "Rock" Rockwell, and graduated after the film's release. Release Take the Lead premiered on March 17, 2006 at the RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It was released in Israel on April 6, 2006, followed by the United States and Canada on April