just in case someone comes with this question, this is how I do it, please forget about the repository object, I'm using the Repository Pattern, you can use your object context to retrieve the entities. And also don't pay attention to my entity names, my entity type Action has nothing to do with an MVC Action.
Controller:
ViewBag.ActionStatusId = new SelectList(repository.GetAll<ActionStatus>(), "ActionStatusId", "Name", myAction.ActionStatusId);
Pay attention that the last variable of the SelectList constructor is the selected value (object selectedValue)
Then this is my view to render it:
<div class="editor-label">
@Html.LabelFor(model => model.ActionStatusId, "ActionStatus")
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
@Html.DropDownList("ActionStatusId")
@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ActionStatusId)
</div>
I think it is pretty simple, I hope this helps! :)