(NYT) Detroiters who worked with and got to know actress Brittany Murphy when she filmed ''8 Mile’' starring Eminem here in 2001 and 2002 are remembering the actress as a fun, bubbly personality.

''Me hanging out with her are some of the fondest memories I have of being in (''8 Mile’'),'' says rapper Miz Korona of Murphy, who died in her Hollywood Hills home on Sunday. She was 32.

Korona had a small role in the film, which was modeled loosely after Eminem’s early days as a rapper in Detroit, and shared a makeup trailer with Murphy and actress Taryn Manning on the set. She remembers Murphy -- whom she was a fan of from her role in ''Girl, Interrupted’' -- sneaking chicken strips in between scenes and being curious about some of our local delicacies.

''I remember her wanting to go down to a Greektown coney island. She was like, ‘What is this coney island?’ '' Korona said Monday.

Mikey Eckstein, a behind-the-scenes player in Detroit’s hip-hop community, remembers hanging with Murphy at several parties in town.

''She was a fun person to be around,'' Eckstein says. ''She was totally bubbly. She treated everyone with respect, whether it was a barback at the club, or an owner, or a PA, or a producer -- she treated everyone with respect. She took pictures, she took time out for conversations with people. And she was always smiling.''

Murphy was 25 when she shot ''8 Mile’' and was best known, at the time, for her role in 1995’s ''Clueless.'' In ''8 Mile’' she played Alex, a girlfriend of Eminem’s character, and shared a steamy sex scene with the rapper.

Detroit rapper Freddie ''Paradime’' Beauregard hung out with Murphy when she was in town filming ''8 Mile,'' and also on a USO tour of Iraq several years ago. ''She never came off as anything other than a real nice girl,'' he says.

''She was very sweet, innocent and cute. Anytime anyone made a joke she’d laugh, even at the bad ones,'' he says. When she was around the troops on the USO tour, ''she was a sweetheart to those guys. She was the type of person that would ask people questions, and she actually seemed (to care) about people that weren’t stars. She never came off to me as the dumb party girl-type.''