October 20, 2025 • 46 mins
Let’s start the party! Anna Maria Perez de Tagle joins Will and Sabrina to talk about how she landed a role on Disney Channel, working on Hannah Montana and more!
Plus! Find out which role she originally auditioned for in Camp Rock!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome to this park Hopper episode of Magical Rewind. We
are well, we're very excited, as we are with all
of our guests. I don't think we've ever started a
show by going, hey, welcome to Magical Rewind the park
Opper episode.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
This episode sucks.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
That we are just not happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Not used to be here. The guest we have today
is crap they have.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We've never done that because we are constantly getting awesome
guests and today is no exception, and we don't want
to wait anymore. But let's just say you're gonna know
her from a lot of things like Hannah Montana, Camp Rock,
Camp Rock too. This time it's personal. We've got some
serious stories we cannot wait to hear. So with no
more ado, please help us.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Welcome Anna, Maria Perez de Tagli. How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I'm good?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
How are you guys?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
It's so much.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
I know, thank you. I just want to say think,
like literally, I grew up watching you guys, and obviously
I worked with Serena, but like this is I'm in
the presence of Disney Channel original like Royalty.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So sweet, it's so crazy.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
We haven't seen each other four literally years over over
a decade and a half probably, and within the last
year I've seen you in person twice.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I know, how is that?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I know it's crazy, and we both have little ones.
It is so fun. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Well, I think I actually talked to Will after I
went to the premiere and was like, You've got to
see this little girl she has. She was on the
on the red carpet like you hitting it, hit cus.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
All this stuff. I was like, oh my gosh, that
is beyond cue, beyond c.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
And I'm the thing is, I never like coached her
to do any of that, Like I feel like she
came out of the womb like ready to go, which
is which is crazy to me. But yeah, she's It's
a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
She's so cute.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
And then I instantly got mom guilt, like I probably
should have brought Monroe.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
You're fine working technically, so wait where did you two
work together?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Then we did the Disney Channel games together?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Was the game Games Games?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Yes, my team Wons did.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Not die either time.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Oh my gosh. Yeah, I was lucky. We had Brenda
Song as our team captain, Queen of.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
The Channel, like you guys kind of that that was
kind of unfair of you. I mean, she should have
probably been just hosting give everyone else a chance.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
You know, we had Nick Jonas on my team, who's
like super competitive, so you know we were we were
really into it.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
You really were, man, Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
So we always like to ask, first of all, again,
thank you so much for joining us. Yes, And we
always like to ask, how did you end up on
the Disney Channel?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
How did your career start?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
How did you end up deciding that you wanted to
be in this wonderful business of show.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
It's really interesting my story. So, I was born in
San Francisco, and I grew up in the Bay Area
in San Jose. I grew up really shy and really
like very in my shell. And so my parents they
made me go to not made me, but they had
me go to a children's musical theater. And that's where
(03:27):
I really truly loved performing. That's where I learned that, oh,
this is something I could actually do. And I don't
know if it was either the theater or my parents,
but one of my auditions was sent to CBS's Star Search.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yes what that is?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
May Yes.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
The second one we talked to Ashley Johnson too, where
we did Bode me throw Ashley Johnson also Star Search.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, so I was chosen as a junior finalist, and
I think it's public knowledge now, but my competitor was
David Archiletta.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Oh my god, and he won.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I lost. It's fine, like he you know, he was incredible.
He sang like an R and B Alicia Keys song.
I sang somewhere from West Side Story. So yeah, very different. Yes,
that's where I got discovered. I went back to the
Bay Area because obviously Star Stars was filmed in LA
and I was signed to a local agency. We started
(04:26):
doing uh print modeling and commercials. First, my first big
acting audition was for Disney Channel.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Wow, what was the project they were doing?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Like, oh, search for fresh new faces for Disney Channel.
And I remember specifically because I grew up watching Disney Channel,
so I knew what this script was. I was doing
a scene out of a That's So Raven episode and
I knew it. So I had different character needs and
I was like, I know this, I know this episode.
(05:01):
So I did that and the next thing I know,
I was doing an audition for an untitled show and
it later became Hannah Montana Man.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Wow, so wait was this after and we're definitely gonna
get int handa Montana because we want to hear all
the stories of that. But was this after a show
called Cake which sounds delicious, So called Cake?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:20):
I think I filmed Cake in between seasons of Hannah Montana.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Okay, okay, what now? What is Cake?
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Kke TV was a CBS morning show. It was every
Saturday at like nine am for the kids, and it
was a like arts and crafts type show, so we
would teach kids how to do arts and crafts.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Can we bring this show back?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
That's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
And it was way before like YouTube d y, like
we were the whole doing that. And I had a
really fun time with that show. I feel like the character,
my character was kind of based off of like London Tipton,
Meet Life of Zach and Cody. Okay, it's Asian, so
it was like very much oh perfect. But I had
a really fun time with that show. And it's crazy
(06:08):
because a lot of people they'll come up to me
and they'll say, I think it was like a fever
dream because it really was so long ago, and all
these people now they're like, oh I remember that show.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Wow, But it was.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
So awesome back then that like Saturday mornings, you would
wake up, you'd head downstairs, you'd grab your bowl cereal,
you'd sit in front of the TV, and they had
awesome kid programming on, like.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Before social media, before all of that. It was. It
was a good time.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
And they were good shows. They were vetted like you
know what I mean. They were just like awesome shows
for kids. I love that.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
And there was always a great amount of cartoons and
things like that that they did.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
That on all the networks. I missed that. I missed that.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I do too.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Okay, So say you get an audition for Hannah Montana.
Obviously at this point nobody knows what Hannah Montana is
or going to be. So when you first heard about it,
were you just kind of was at the standard twenty
people in a room going for some random show called
Hannah Montana.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Well, I, of course I was up north still, so
I was sending self tapes and I auditioned for my
like Miley's role, so Hannah Montana, and then I auditioned
for Lily the Best Friend. So I had gone in
and for the even for the callbacks, I was flying
back and forth.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Oh oh wow.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
I was really my parents were really invested in this,
and I was just getting a lot of good feedback,
so I thought, Okay, it's worth doing this. And yeah.
It was that Disney Channel building in Burbank, the floor
and yeah. And then next thing I know is like,
I'm they want me to be the mean girl, which
I was like, I'm not even I'm not that person.
(07:55):
But I grew up. I was a little bully growing up,
so I kind of pulled from that. And I think
originally they only wanted one mean girl, and then I
think both Shannika who plays Amber, we just went in
and killed the role and then they ended up doing
it as a duo. Wow, you're lucky.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
That is amazing. I love that.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
That's I just recently was listening to like an interview
someone else was doing about how that kind of dynamic
of a lot of times, especially for stuff I know
on the Channel it happened all the time, is that
you would a lot of times go for that main role, right,
and and then you'd also go for the other roles.
And then sometimes with girls that with kids in general,
(08:41):
would create a little bit of like a competition on
set and stuff. But for me and a lot of
people I've talked to, it was like, No, I was
just excited to be there.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I didn't care about what role they gave me. I
was just stoked to be there living.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
So for me, I felt like, you know, maybe that
was that person's journey. But so many people I've I've
worked with.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Later on that we're on the channel. A lot of them.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
The way you start off is you go for the
league and then from there they don't but they like you.
They want to find somewhere where you fit, so that
that's amazing. And they gave you Guys both apart.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Like that's do me and girls are.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Like their fears to get they got that power behind them.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
You know, and I still get like every once in
a while they'll be like, oh, you're the girl. You know,
you're the ones that's oos and and we love you now,
but we hated you back then, you know. So it's
it's cool. It's it's cool to still be part of
people's childhoods.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yes, absolutely, So what was it like, I mean, you're
on a show that becomes a juggernaut and it becomes
literally a cultural phenomenon. You're watching this kind of from
the driver's seat, there, you're sitting there watching it from
day one?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Do you have any idea that can you sense what's coming?
Is there any I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
When did you first start to realize, wait a second,
we're onto something here.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I think probably a few Once once it premiered, Honestly,
it was like overnight success. Now. I was again, I'm
fully moved from the Bay Area to LA when when
it did get picked up, because my agent was like, oh,
there's no way you're going to go back and forth
doing this. You're going to be a recurring role, so
(10:20):
you're going to be in it for a lot of
the episodes. So I think obviously when I first met Miley,
I kind of knew that there was definitely something going on,
like she is a star, a star taking back then
and I if it wasn't for her, I don't think
this it wouldn't have been this successful. I think it
(10:41):
was Miley's doing and just in general, like casting did
such a good job with even having her dad play
a real dad. And then you know Jason Earls, who
I recently connected with. Again, it's just perfectly cast it.
We even had Blue in our pilot, so you know,
I just feel like, uh, we just wanted it to
be picked up, and then it was just being noticed
(11:05):
and everything afterwards and how successful it was. There was
no social like again, there was no social media back then,
so people actually watched the channel and when we were
going out and things like that, we were getting recognized,
and then we got picked up for like how many
more seasons after all seasons? Yeah? Wow, Yeah, it was nice.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
I mean, you guys were definitely the first of its
kind on the channel, being something that was going to
have performance driven production and everything for every episode. And
I know that the channel went through quite a journey
to get the show to even be cast, Like, fully,
did you know who Billy ray Cyrus was or did
your mom have? Did your mom fill you in? Because
(11:46):
he was so off the game. A key Breaky Heart
was a song when I was like seven years old
and was my first tap song.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
That was when it was big, and you're talking a
decade later basically.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
So him coming on the channel was like a golden
idea his the duo with him and his daughter. But
also like that fan base, that country fan base, I mean,
if they were gonna watch the channel, but they weren't
getting him anywhere else.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
They were watching the channel. Yeah, like that was brilliant.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Really, Yes, I did know of him. He's probably the
only one I knew that was gonna be in the
cast because my parents and my mom were like, oh,
we know Failure Cyrus and like it was the line
dance at every wedding and so it was like we
wow and yeah, Like honestly that that dynamic between them
was great. It just really really worked.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, did you ever?
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So? Okay, I obviously I was older than the Hannah
Montana age, so I wasn't watching Hannah Montana at the time.
But of course we've gone back and watched the movie
for the podcast and then to get into the movie.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
They said, oh, you should watch an episode or two,
which we did.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Right, did you at the time question or have any
problems with no one recognizing her just because she was
wearing a wig.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I'm just curious. I'm just curious.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I you know what, For me, it was the magic
of Disney. People, right, won't know who she is, and
but you know, like it is kind of questionable as
a kid, especially if you're going to school with somebody
that looks exactly the same and it's just a different hairstyle, right,
if they did that this today, it wouldn't work right.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, if I went to school with Madonna but she
had dark hair, I wouldn't be like, Wow, that's I
don't recognize her at all.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
But again, I wasn't the demographic. I wasn't the demographic. Okay.
So it's a few.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Years later, not even is it right after where you
get a little film called camp Rock, which is of
course wonderful Disney's energy and trying to keep everything, but
is one of the things that you're going to be
most well known for being in all these projects with
all of these like pop stars, And what was it
(13:57):
like getting first getting cast and what was the audition
process like for that and then meeting the Jonas brothers
and everybody kind of involved.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
So I have a different story with my casting experience. Obviously,
I was in the middle of doing Hannah Montana and
I still had to audition for the movie, obviously, but
I only auditioned for the role of Mitchie, and I
was not given the full script and just the certain
size I had to do for the audition. And I
(14:27):
auditioned for I think maybe three or four times, and
I didn't hear back for like three four weeks and
I thought, Okay, I'm not part of it. It's fine,
move on, And all of a sudden, I get a
call saying, well, we want they want to offer you
the role of Ella, and I was like, who's I
had no idea what it was, and they said, it's
(14:48):
like a similar role with their character from Hannah. So
I definitely was typecasted, which is fine, It's fine. I
was like, oh, yeah, I'll be a part of this
new musical movie. And I did not have a dance call.
I did not have a singing audition as well. So
and also during that casting process, which is a story
(15:09):
I don't think I've ever told, I was doing an
episode of a show called Just Jordan on Nickelodeon. Yeah, oh,
and Demi was in that same episode as me, and
that's where we first connected. We had the same agent
at the time, and we kind of talked about it,
and that's where I was kind of like, oh, I
(15:30):
really think that she's Mitchie. But I don't say anything,
but I rightly feel it. Like she again when I
first met her, she's a star, Like I really think
this is her And the next thing I know, I'm
being flown out to Toronto and that's where we meet
up again.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Wow. Okay, so how now you said you're being type cast,
which obviously you were. You seem to be an absolutely
lovely person. Why do you think all of a sudden
you're being cast as the bully all.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Over the place.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
We have no idea. I really don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I mean just that you played it well when you
when you were given the shots.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
But I mean it's so strange that, yeah, someone so
nice is constantly being played, you know, playing the bully.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
And I feel like that happens with most characters too.
I've heard it, like the girls play the mean girls,
and then it's the opposite for the well.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Especially when like the Channel, when they fall in love
with you and they are like, oh, she can do this, Okay,
we're gonna put her there, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
And it seems like with the Channel.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
The more and more people we interview, the more and
more we realize how fast, like the casting goes from
like zero to like one fifty, and people are just
being flown out to like wherever you're flying to to shoot.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Like they're making that.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
It starts slow, and then all of a sudden it's
like decision decision, decision, this is done, We've got the like.
So they had you in their pocket of like, we
know she's great at this, we know she can had
you had you gotten an opportunity ever on Hannah Montana
to sing?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Was that something that they gave you for your role ever?
Because did they know you could sing? Because you said
you didn't really go to any of the other auditions.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Well, they knew I could sing because when I first
auditioned as for the Help.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Okay, so my character called to was called to sing
bad in Montana. So you know, somebody who was classically
trained growing up a performer musical theater, I was really
upset when I got that episode.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I worked all this hard. I worked so hard for this, Oh.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
God, And at the time even I had expressed it
to my Asian and they understood too, and so they
even had a moment where I was able to go
into the room with some of the producers and I
sang for them again and they loved it. But at
the end of the day, I still was that character
that's sang bad, and I really think it's because I
just had that comedic timing down for that, you know, yeah, again,
(17:59):
I was, and I knew deep down there would be
more opportunities for me to showcase my voice. So I
kind of swallowed the hard pill and said, you.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Know, I'm a actor.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
I'm going to do this. And for a while, I think,
up until I did Camp Rock, people did think that
I could sing bad, and I was like, no, no,
but you know I did other things and you know
it was fine.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yes, yeah, Well I was going to ask what was
shooting Camp Rock like, because we've heard, for instance, some
of the stories we've heard from some people are they
had fun doing both, but it was very different shooting
camp Rock one to shooting Camp Rock two. We've heard
that kind of stuff, So let's just start with Camp
Rock one. What was the vibe on the set like?
And what was it like your experience shooting that film?
Speaker 4 (18:40):
So my experience, first off, when I got there, I
got the call sheet from my first day was going
to be a dance rehearsal, and because I was casted
kind of later, I had no idea this was going
to be a dance movie. So I thought it was
going to be like Lemonade, you know, like singing primarily singing.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Bands, especially Jonas Brothers band. Yeah, exactly, we got instruments
going here.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Okay, So I did not come prepared. I had no
dance gear, no dance clothing, nothing. So I saw the
call sheet said Alison Stoner my name dance rehearsal I said,
oh no, My mom said, pack it up. You're getting
sent hole. Because I had no prior dance experience before
Camp Rock. Oh my doing my like theater. But that
(19:27):
was different, you know. So the day prior, I went
shopping with my mom. We got all the dance like
the sweats, the shoes and everything. And I walked in
there and I don't know, God was on my side,
but I kept up with Alison and the choreographer was
really impressed, which was like, thank God.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So you had no dance training or any you didn't
really dance at all before you watch.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Too much Dan, did you recognize Alison's name? Like, not
only are you going to dance and you you aren't.
You aren't messaging real comfortable in your own skin, just
because you didn't feel prepared.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
You know, you didn't feel like you had the background.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
But you're going against one of the most well known
camp dancers of.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
The nineties and two thousands, like that's why, that's why
my mom said, you're you're getting fired for this, and
I was like, no, no, no, oh, I am so proud.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
You showed up. I don't think every kid would have even.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
With that much anxiety of just you know, oh wow,
well good for you and good job you killed it.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
That I know, thank God. And I met the Jonas
brothers and they were so sweet. Again. The first time
I met the Jonahs brothers, we were rehearsing four Start
the Party, which was a dance sequence, and obviously they
they're not dancers, so it was an interesting time. But
they were just the nicest guys. I had already been
fans of that is prior, so I knew that them
(20:55):
being part of Camp Rock was going to be something special,
especially with Demi right.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
The chemistry that the cast had that first movie is
just I mean, it looked like it looked like what
it probably was was a bunch of young actors really
being able to come together and like look at each
other and go like, this is our shot.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
We can make this giant, you know, and we wanted to.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
We were kind of along the lines of the high
school musical time and it's like if we could be
half as successful as High School Happy, you know. And
then with the second movie, again it was very different
because we had the stardom of Demi and the Jonas brothers,
and we had a different director, we had a different choreographer.
The dancing was so much harder, and I did half
(21:42):
of that movie with a spring foot, so all of
the dance numbers, especially we Can't Back Down, which is
the you know, the the sign language one. I was struggling,
and me watching it back, I was like, I could
see that struggle. I'm sure now that I'm telling everyone,
people will watch it back and be like, oh, yeah,
(22:02):
that she did not turn on beat, Like there was
no way, but yeah, it was. It was a harder
time for us because it was freezing cold the fall,
and a lot of night shoots, which I don't recall
having in the first movie at all. So it was
very different. And also, just like the privacy with everything,
(22:24):
we had to be more private with this movie because
the Jonahs' brothers were more well known, Deman was more
well known, so a lot of it was kind of
filmed in secret. I mean, you know, we weren't on
social media, so that was a nice thing. But yeah,
it was. It was definitely different, but still a lot
of fun for me.
Speaker 5 (22:41):
Yeah, Okay, I've got to ask, because I've thought about this,
what would it be like or what is it like
when you're on set? I guess asked, say, if I'm
right or not, imagine being on set with Joe Jonas,
(23:02):
Nick Jonas, and Kevin This is how I would see
the daily activity behind the scene. Nick is somewhere sitting
on a log with his guitar writing music.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Okay, you're not true accurate, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Okay, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
Joe is within a group of girls flirting his little
booty off. No, I mean no, no, he was such
a flirt every time, not like but just he's got
He's very charismatic, and the girls just I guess the
girls just get like attracted to him.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Yeah, I mean he is very friendly, but he was
more just like pranking all everybody on set.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Oh I love that. Oh that's even better. That's a
better that's a better image for sure.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
And then Kevin was always on his phone, texting with
his girlfriend who is now his wife and they've got
children and all of that was he always always on
his phone a.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Little bit, but he was also very present and big
brother on set made sure oh yeah, yeah. He was
always checking in on everybody.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
He was the oldest, right, Yes, yes, Kevin's the oldest,
and he is.
Speaker 5 (24:02):
He's very taken on the big brother, the wise older
man type. Yes, you know, I love he's He's so sweet.
Every time I've been around the guys, like they're the best,
But I always think of like what it would be
like on like you know, not like a one day
of set, like when I would see you guys. It
was like very shooting for just a few days, like
weeks and weeks of it, like what their day to
day thing. I just feel like every time you come
(24:24):
out of like the food area, you see off in
the distance, like Nick just like vibing out to writing
in his notebook making the songs like yeah, I don't know,
that's just my dream, I guess.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Oh no, it really was. It was like that we
were It was shot in a camp, so it was
like a it felt like a real like campy movie
and we just we had a good time. And it
really picked up after that too, because I ended up
going on tour with the Jonahs for his brothers for
the camp Rock tour. Okay, yeah, we did that for like,
I want to say, five months.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Wow. What was that like? Were you guys on buses
together traveling around?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (25:02):
So the cast that went was my cell m Dot
who played Luke he was the one who sang fire
in the second movie, Jordan Francis, and then Alison and
so we were on our own bus and our and
our parents were on our bus as well, and then
Jonas Buzz had their own bus, and then the dancers
had their own bus and obviously the rest of the
(25:23):
So in the in the US, we did bus around
city to city and that was really fun for me
because I was sort of getting into music and at
the time, Kevin Jonas Senior was my manager.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Oh wow wow.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
He helped me with a little bit of music during
that time. And then we went to South America to
get a tour over there for a little bit.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
And what was that like. Were you guys on a
bus in South America? Were you guys flying? You're flying? Okay,
we were flying.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Then we had like local buses just to get to
the venues, but we flew to each city for that.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Now are you dancing and singing these shows? How does
that work with the rest of the cast. You're all
doing the big kind of dance numbers and singing it. Wow.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Yeah, So they had it was a camp Rock two tour,
so we had most of the songs from the camp
Rock two movie, and uh, I think we had one
or two from the first movie, and we would We
opened before the Jonas brothers, so our little gig was
before and also during, so there were there was a
moment during their set where they would sing their camp
Rock two songs and we would come out and dance
(26:27):
with them.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
So fun.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Oh, it was a lot of fun. I really had
a great time and have the best memories from that time.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yes, speaking of speaking of the fact that you're with
some of the most talented people, yourself among them. You're
just part of this talented crew of young entertainers. You're
then cast in the Fame movie. Oh that just like
chock full of incredibly talented young performers. What is that
(26:55):
experience like and is it as grueling as it would
appear to be?
Speaker 4 (26:59):
I want to say no, Okay, I think I was
casted between the first movie and the second movie, because
I remember I didn't go to my premiere because I
was filming Camp Rock Tour.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Too, reason to not go to.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I'm sorry, I can't go to the premiere. I'm filming.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
But I did enjoy it so much, and obviously we
were a whole like remake of it, and I played
Joy and she was kind of like the student that
goes to the arts high but ends up quitting because
she gets on a TV show. So that was very
much like my Oh she was like the actor in
(27:38):
the movie. And I really truly enjoyed my time doing
that movie. And I got to have a one on
one scene with a really huge actors. She's slipping my
mind up, Debbie, Debbie Allen, Oh my god. I was
the only one that got to have that scene with her.
So I was pretty iconic. And again some people still
(27:58):
are like, oh, I remember you from Fame. You were
the one that got drunk and threw up in the
like that was you. You wrapped in that movie and
you yeah, so yeah, it's fun and nostalgic.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Did you go on and watch the original Fame before
you did the film?
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Yes? I did, okay, you know, And there was there
was like rumors about them not wanting to hire Disney
actors just among like people who were auditioning and they're like,
we want new actors. And I was really lucky that
the producer and the director at the time really believed
in me, and I did have to work a lot
with an acting coach to kind of ground me and
(28:36):
not have that Disney.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, the Disney quality. Yep, the Disney acting qualities.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
You're big, I know, I know. So it was very
different in that way. But yeah that I am still
friends with some of them to this day, and it's
it's a nice thing. And my daughter hasn't seen it yet.
That's one thing I was just about.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
To ask, has she seen now?
Speaker 1 (28:54):
What?
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Have she seen?
Speaker 2 (28:55):
The camp Rock movies?
Speaker 4 (28:56):
She's seen both camp Rock movies. She hasn't seen Hannah
Montana because I don't think she gonna understand it.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yet and because they changed.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Very confusing. She very confusing.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
Oh fine, I'm sure she she looks like she's into
dancing and singing herself, so I'm sure she was just vibing.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Out mama up on that screen. Oh how fun for her?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Did she prefer the first one or the second one? Oh?
Speaker 4 (29:23):
She loves the first one. Okay, Yeah, she loves the
first one because of just the songs like this is
Me Gotta Find You, all of that, even the beginning song,
she sings it all the time. I actually took her
to her first concert and it was the Jonahs brother
Oh You Okay, And she had a blast and I
just saw it in her eyes, like when they came
(29:43):
on stage, she had this look of complete awe And
I was like, wait, is she having her first crush?
Because this is kind of like for me, because she
really like her mouth dropped. And then she met them
afterwards and they were so sweet to her. And now
she can't stop singing all the Jonas Brothers songs. Oh
for sure, she's four.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
I love that. I love that well do you? I mean?
Speaker 5 (30:12):
And it could be for any reason, but for you?
What did What did you think of the two movies?
Which one stands out more? Is it the first one
or the second one? Like as far as when you
look back and see when you're watching with.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Your kid, you're seeing her interaction things like that.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
I do think that I like the first one more.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
I'm with you too, there's something so magical about that
first one. And I agree, you know, it feels like
there was I can't we could not even really put
when we reviewed it, put our thumb on what it
was that just I mean to me, the the thing
about the first one, like you said with your daughter,
the music is just so memorable. It is just it
(30:52):
stays with you, You remember it, you hear it. When I
mean the second Demi comes on screen anywhere, I don't
care if she's doing a commercial for the Jerry like
for Jerio's I'm hearing this is me like I'm just
I hear it, I hear it, I feel it.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
I like live for that song.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I think there's also, though, there's something to a purity
of a movie before any of the people in it
become big stars. Yeah, it just it changes it with
the second you. And again it's not necessarily bad. Think
High School Musical two was great. We're getting into all
that stuff. But there's a purity of we're happy to
be here, we're excited to be here. There's something about
(31:29):
that that the camera catches that changes when you've got
big stars. And again, it doesn't make it better or worse,
it's just different. There's I don't know, there's a purity
about it that I think you lose a little bit.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
There's definitely an authenticity in the first one that's different
than the second one. And there were different like musical
numbers that like showcase all of us as like as
different characters. Yes, so like what my daughter love is
that I had like an ostall a Vista moment at
the end of the first movie. Yes, we all got
(32:00):
to perform our own numbers. That was what was different
with the second one. Now, the second one, I will
say like we definitely up the dancing. I feel like
they wanted it to be a little bit more like
high school musical. And then obviously the Jonas like Nick
had his own little moment and he had his own
little love. So again it was different. But I still
(32:23):
go back to the first one every I'm like, what's
your favorite one? It's the first one.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Yeah, I don't know, as Sabrina knows, she's the resident
dance expert.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I know very little about dance.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
But in the second one, when I saw this a
number of times, I was like, maybe they're.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Phoning it in a little bit.
Speaker 5 (32:39):
For the second one, I just feel like the yeah,
the dance, the choreography.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
For me, it's something that I just.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
I mean, I that's like my giant background is in dance.
So for the first one, like although it was I
guess the choreography was more simple, it showcased better than
the second one.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
The second one I think.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
Was a little bit the it was a little too
much of a reach. Yeah, and it just honestly, I
mean even watching Alison, which I can watch dance for
hours and hours, and I have done it on their Instagram,
I just scroll and scroll and scroll.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
But truly, I.
Speaker 5 (33:16):
It wasn't even like they didn't even seem like they
loved what they were having their body, so it was
it was just didn't And again maybe it was just
kind of too much of.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
A reach, but this the first one was fine. I
don't know why don't have to go pass on?
Speaker 2 (33:31):
I have to Well, speaking of.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Going past that, we have to ask have you heard
anything about Camp Rock three?
Speaker 4 (33:38):
As far as I know, I'm not involved. I've talked
to a few other people and they're not involved. So
I really do think that it's it's just going to
be the Jonas brothers and maybe DEMI like that would
be iconic and I would totally support it because it's
honestly just probably going to be something like passing the torch.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
On and like with the Zombies franchise, the.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
Zombies franchise, so if there is one that's amazing, it'll
be a whole new demographic and whole new audience. So
I don't know, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
I had a pitch for Disney for Camp Rock three,
which is okay, that starts with the camp being destroyed.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
It's post apocalyptic and so the dance numbers.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
It's kind of like zombies meets caking camp.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Zombies they just were at camp.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
We always was a camp.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
Andre we know that they did a camp.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
It can't be that.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Well, well, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. Okay.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
So you mentioned that growing up you were a big
Disney Channel fan. We have to ask what's your favorite
d com of all time? Oh?
Speaker 4 (34:38):
I have two? Sorry, I have two. Okay, okay, Date
with a Present and the Cheetah Girls movie. I'm not
joking when I tell you I love the OG movies
growing up when I was ten, you know, eleven years old. Obviously,
(35:00):
like with the Cheetah Girls, I was I loved girl
groups growing up, so when the Cheetah Girls came on,
I was like, this is amazing. Oh my goodness, your movie.
I really truly thought this was like a real life movie,
like the daughter went on a date with a normal guy.
(35:20):
That's so cool.
Speaker 5 (35:22):
Do you think they were actually at the Lincoln Memorial
Because they were.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
I believe every single thing in that movie growing up.
So yeah, yeah, those were my favorite movie.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Well, that's wonderful to hear.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I'm always typecast as the normal guy, same same kind
of thing.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Oh my. Well.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
One of the reasons that we've been having so much
fun with this podcast is because there's been this wave
of nostalgia that has really swept across everybody of.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
A certain age, and it's kind of we're noticing.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
I mean, I'm almost fifty, you are both almost in
your twenties, so we're in that same kind You know
that we span some generations, but it seems to kind
of be hitting everyone. Have you felt kind of the
new a new kind of resurgence of the love for
these movies coming back and people coming up to you
and talking to you about them.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent. Well on my socialist because
I do a lot of social media now and content creation.
When I first started doing my tiktoks, I did a
lot of Disney throwback videos and those blew up instantly,
and so there is that audience still that really loves
the nostalgia of the old Disney Channel and you know,
(36:33):
a hand them Montana camp Rock and now that like
the Jonas Brothers are coming back and Demi came back
with them and all of that, it has really come
back full circle. Like I'm still getting even at the
Jonas Brothers concert, They're like, we love you, we love
your character, we love doing camp Rock. You're my childhood
is what I get all the time. So crazy, and
(36:53):
yeah it is crazy now that I'm like I have
a kid, but like it's great. I honestly love it.
Love being part of people's childhoods and the nostalgia of
it all, and I hope to continue to be part
of it because you know what else can you ask for?
Like you were, yeah, people, you were part of people's
upbringing pretty yes.
Speaker 5 (37:14):
And even though I mean for you with your characters
not always being like the nice one, you were still
part of a Disney Channel cast. And yeah, the messaging
behind every episode or every movie is something.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
That like.
Speaker 5 (37:27):
The majority of people that are watching will not walk
away going oh that like that didn't make me feel good. Yeah, right,
try to watch something that doesn't like on the channel
that doesn't make you, like feel good, you know, you
might not be good Like that might not be your
favorite pocket.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
It's fuzze Bucket. Okay, Buzzocket does not make us feel good?
Is not Fuzzbucket was.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Really one of the first movies we did. It was
on The Wonderful World of Disney.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
And it was one of the weird It's a weird
failed pilot.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
The entire movies like forty five minutes long, and it's
about this kid who has this goo that turns into
this creature called Fuzzbucket. It's an acid trip. It's a
giant acid trip. It's really weird. But it did not
make me feel good about anything.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
It was not great, but all right, so I said
the majority of it. There are somewhere we actually have
recently watched one I won't say the name, but that
was just like, this.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Is just one of the weirdest movies we've ever seen.
Speaker 5 (38:29):
But for the most part, especially during the time you
were on the channel, the Disney was nailing it on
the head of every single thing that they were. This
was their empire, like.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
Like it was the same time as like Wizards of
Waverley Place yea.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
And they were not they were not swinging and missing.
They were hitting it out of the ballpark.
Speaker 5 (38:49):
Everybody, yes, And so we're lucky that we were able
to really be a part of that time on the channel.
Because when someone says that you know they were your
you're you were their child, it's like you always know
that was in like a good way that they they
had a bad day at school, they came home and
watched and like that that started them a new a
new part of their day, you know.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
So fun.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
Yeah, I mean, I'm so lucky, Like I still I
had a great time with my career with Disney, and
it has come full circle again, like I'm with my daughter,
I'm doing like campaigns with Disney again. So it's yeah,
it's been It's been a great time.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
And did you do Jonas Khan as well?
Speaker 5 (39:29):
I did do Jonas khn tell us about that, oh
the mania Like at Jonahs Khan.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
I found out like a week prior and the Jonahs
brothers DMed me and I was like, wait, okay, this
is cool, Like had no idea they were doing this
and it was at the I feel like what's the
mall called, but in New Jersey one of the biggest.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Males American Dream American Dream.
Speaker 4 (39:51):
Yes, it was insane, Like the mall was full of
people like from all ages, from older like you got
grandma's like little babies there. And the Brothers performed throughout
the whole day. So they performed like fifteen to twenty
times at different parts of like they were staked everywhere.
(40:12):
Oh my gosh, we were there. We were able to
do like a little podcast moment on the stage and
it was actually impossible to get around because people were
like bombarding my It was myself, Matthew and Megan, and
it was nice to come back and support them and
do that for them. And then again after that, I
(40:33):
was able to do this Samsung TV live event for
their kickoff show for the Greetings from Your Hometown tour.
So I took that with Franklin Jonas and we were like,
you know, hosts for.
Speaker 5 (40:44):
The Oh my and okay, that's the one that was
in Camp Rock too, right, Yes.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
He was a baby in Camp Rock too, And.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
So did they call him Franklin? Now, wasn't he Frankie?
Speaker 4 (40:54):
He was frank I'm sure they was Franky. Okay, that's
my Franklin now. And I was able to do a
little dual moment with him.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Fun, so that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
He's all grown up now too. That's got to be
a trip.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
John.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
He's taller than all of them, so it's like wow wow.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Okay, So for our final question here, I'd like to
ask you, and this is kind of putting you on
the spot and it's rough, but okay, your favorite if
you had to pick one favorite project you were in
for the Disney Channel, what would be your favorite thing
that you ever did.
Speaker 5 (41:32):
It's the rudest question, but we have to ask it.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
It doesn't mean you like the other ones less, but
just slightly less.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
I think it's probably gonna have to be Hannah Montana.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
I want to say that just because I wouldn't have
gotten Camp Rock if it wasn't for Hannah Montana. Yeah,
I I And that was my introduction to Disney Channel. Like,
like over the years, I was still in shop that
I was getting to work with these iconic people, Like
even during the times that we were off, we were
(42:08):
doing those Disney Channel promo shoots and then.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
The Disney Inner stitchles.
Speaker 4 (42:14):
I was working with the likes of you, Sabrina and
and Brendan Raven and so early on my career with
Hannah Montana was really special to me, and I think
it would have to be that fair enough.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Hey, when your favorite thing is Hannah Montana on the channel,
that's not a.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
Bad answer, not a bad ass.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
That's pretty great. Thank you so much for joining us.
Today has really cool.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
And yeah, hopefully we'll all we'll all be at at
Camp Rock three.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
I'll see you guys at the events and everything.
Speaker 3 (42:48):
But yes, for sure, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Thank you, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Have a good day.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
She is so sweet and I love that because she's
kind of said it in passing, but it's so true
where she's like, you know, a lot of times you
hear the person that plays the bully or the mean
girl or the mean guy is the nicest person in
the world, and sometimes the person who plays the every
person lead nicest person.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
In the world maybe not the nicest person in the
world in real life.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
So true. So that's con acting.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
It's call acting. But man, what a what a career.
That's totally cool.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
And the idea I always again, I have no children,
but when I see actors and I hear about their
kids and you hear how performative they are.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
It's like, oh, you're raising an actor. Good luck with that.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
I know, you know, and it's hard.
Speaker 5 (43:41):
I'll tell you because I've got I just recently got
like an opportunity that came through, like her dance studio
and the same like ver Monroe looking at agent, like
an agent come in there. There's like a call casting
call type thing, and she talks about doing stuff like
that so much, I feel like I would like take
Kurt and then probably have an anxiety attack myself and
(44:03):
be like, oh no, no, we're not doing this.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
We gotta go, you gotta go.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Yeah. Yeah, Well, Ryder Strong talks about it all the
time because he's like the joke is that he goes,
oh hey, by the time Ryder's son Indy was five
or six, he's like, I realized I was raising Wilfred Hell.
He said, you guys are like exactly the same. He goes,
and that scared the hell out of me. And it's
the same thing where he's already did. He's Indy's already
doing voiceovers and dunes and like, yeah, raising an actor
(44:29):
from an actor. Raising an actor has got to be
a pretty sketchy thing. Is just you know the industry,
or at least you did until whatever this version of
the industry.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Is, which version is so different than any of us.
Speaker 5 (44:39):
I feel terrible when people I feel like people that
I know that whose kids are interested in acting, and
they asked me what can I do?
Speaker 3 (44:47):
I'm like, I Instagram.
Speaker 5 (44:50):
Now you got to tell you because the way I
got into the industry just doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
It's not the same, doesn't.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
It's not the same. So I have no idea.
Speaker 5 (45:00):
Yeah, yeah, no, well's great to have her on. We've
been waiting and waiting for her to be able to
come on. I'm so excited to see her twice recently.
The second time I had enough guts to go up
to her and be like, we.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Really love you to come on the podcast. And she
was like, oh my gosh. The last time they reached out,
it just didn't work out, but I would love to.
So then we connected, you know, and she's like, I
would love to.
Speaker 5 (45:24):
I've listened to you guys and like this sounds so
much fun to be on, so I want to come.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
I'm like perfect.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
So she was an awesome guest and you're all awesome
people out there listening to us talking to our awesome guests,
and I'm just going to keep saying awesome until we
turn it into a drinking game.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
We're not going to do that in any way, shape
or form.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
But thank you everybody so much for joining us, and
you can listen to every interview we have here on
this feed. We've got some great ones. Really, you should
check them out because they are so much fun. And
until then, be nice to each other and we'll see
you next time.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Bye, everybody. Ye
Welcome to this park Hopper episode of Magical Rewind. We
are well, we're very excited, as we are with all
of our guests. I don't think we've ever started a
show by going, hey, welcome to Magical Rewind the park
Opper episode.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
This episode sucks.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
That we are just not happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Not used to be here. The guest we have today
is crap they have.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We've never done that because we are constantly getting awesome
guests and today is no exception, and we don't want
to wait anymore. But let's just say you're gonna know
her from a lot of things like Hannah Montana, Camp Rock,
Camp Rock too. This time it's personal. We've got some
serious stories we cannot wait to hear. So with no
more ado, please help us.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Welcome Anna, Maria Perez de Tagli. How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I'm good?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
How are you guys?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
It's so much.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
I know, thank you. I just want to say think,
like literally, I grew up watching you guys, and obviously
I worked with Serena, but like this is I'm in
the presence of Disney Channel original like Royalty.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
So sweet, it's so crazy.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
We haven't seen each other four literally years over over
a decade and a half probably, and within the last
year I've seen you in person twice.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I know, how is that?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I know it's crazy, and we both have little ones.
It is so fun. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Well, I think I actually talked to Will after I
went to the premiere and was like, You've got to
see this little girl she has. She was on the
on the red carpet like you hitting it, hit cus.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
All this stuff. I was like, oh my gosh, that
is beyond cue, beyond c.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
And I'm the thing is, I never like coached her
to do any of that, Like I feel like she
came out of the womb like ready to go, which
is which is crazy to me. But yeah, she's It's
a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
She's so cute.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
And then I instantly got mom guilt, like I probably
should have brought Monroe.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
You're fine working technically, so wait where did you two
work together?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Then we did the Disney Channel games together?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Was the game Games Games?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Yes, my team Wons did.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Not die either time.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Oh my gosh. Yeah, I was lucky. We had Brenda
Song as our team captain, Queen of.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
The Channel, like you guys kind of that that was
kind of unfair of you. I mean, she should have
probably been just hosting give everyone else a chance.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
You know, we had Nick Jonas on my team, who's
like super competitive, so you know we were we were
really into it.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
You really were, man, Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
So we always like to ask, first of all, again,
thank you so much for joining us. Yes, And we
always like to ask, how did you end up on
the Disney Channel?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
How did your career start?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
How did you end up deciding that you wanted to
be in this wonderful business of show.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
It's really interesting my story. So, I was born in
San Francisco, and I grew up in the Bay Area
in San Jose. I grew up really shy and really
like very in my shell. And so my parents they
made me go to not made me, but they had
me go to a children's musical theater. And that's where
(03:27):
I really truly loved performing. That's where I learned that, oh,
this is something I could actually do. And I don't
know if it was either the theater or my parents,
but one of my auditions was sent to CBS's Star Search.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yes what that is?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
May Yes.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
The second one we talked to Ashley Johnson too, where
we did Bode me throw Ashley Johnson also Star Search.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, so I was chosen as a junior finalist, and
I think it's public knowledge now, but my competitor was
David Archiletta.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Oh my god, and he won.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I lost. It's fine, like he you know, he was incredible.
He sang like an R and B Alicia Keys song.
I sang somewhere from West Side Story. So yeah, very different. Yes,
that's where I got discovered. I went back to the
Bay Area because obviously Star Stars was filmed in LA
and I was signed to a local agency. We started
(04:26):
doing uh print modeling and commercials. First, my first big
acting audition was for Disney Channel.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Wow, what was the project they were doing?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Like, oh, search for fresh new faces for Disney Channel.
And I remember specifically because I grew up watching Disney Channel,
so I knew what this script was. I was doing
a scene out of a That's So Raven episode and
I knew it. So I had different character needs and
I was like, I know this, I know this episode.
(05:01):
So I did that and the next thing I know,
I was doing an audition for an untitled show and
it later became Hannah Montana Man.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Wow, so wait was this after and we're definitely gonna
get int handa Montana because we want to hear all
the stories of that. But was this after a show
called Cake which sounds delicious, So called Cake?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:20):
I think I filmed Cake in between seasons of Hannah Montana.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Okay, okay, what now? What is Cake?
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Kke TV was a CBS morning show. It was every
Saturday at like nine am for the kids, and it
was a like arts and crafts type show, so we
would teach kids how to do arts and crafts.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Can we bring this show back?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
That's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
And it was way before like YouTube d y, like
we were the whole doing that. And I had a
really fun time with that show. I feel like the character,
my character was kind of based off of like London Tipton,
Meet Life of Zach and Cody. Okay, it's Asian, so
it was like very much oh perfect. But I had
a really fun time with that show. And it's crazy
(06:08):
because a lot of people they'll come up to me
and they'll say, I think it was like a fever
dream because it really was so long ago, and all
these people now they're like, oh I remember that show.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Wow, But it was.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
So awesome back then that like Saturday mornings, you would
wake up, you'd head downstairs, you'd grab your bowl cereal,
you'd sit in front of the TV, and they had
awesome kid programming on, like.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Before social media, before all of that. It was. It
was a good time.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
And they were good shows. They were vetted like you
know what I mean. They were just like awesome shows
for kids. I love that.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
And there was always a great amount of cartoons and
things like that that they did.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
That on all the networks. I missed that. I missed that.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I do too.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Okay, So say you get an audition for Hannah Montana.
Obviously at this point nobody knows what Hannah Montana is
or going to be. So when you first heard about it,
were you just kind of was at the standard twenty
people in a room going for some random show called
Hannah Montana.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Well, I, of course I was up north still, so
I was sending self tapes and I auditioned for my
like Miley's role, so Hannah Montana, and then I auditioned
for Lily the Best Friend. So I had gone in
and for the even for the callbacks, I was flying
back and forth.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Oh oh wow.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
I was really my parents were really invested in this,
and I was just getting a lot of good feedback,
so I thought, Okay, it's worth doing this. And yeah.
It was that Disney Channel building in Burbank, the floor
and yeah. And then next thing I know is like,
I'm they want me to be the mean girl, which
I was like, I'm not even I'm not that person.
(07:55):
But I grew up. I was a little bully growing up,
so I kind of pulled from that. And I think
originally they only wanted one mean girl, and then I
think both Shannika who plays Amber, we just went in
and killed the role and then they ended up doing
it as a duo. Wow, you're lucky.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
That is amazing. I love that.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
That's I just recently was listening to like an interview
someone else was doing about how that kind of dynamic
of a lot of times, especially for stuff I know
on the Channel it happened all the time, is that
you would a lot of times go for that main role, right,
and and then you'd also go for the other roles.
And then sometimes with girls that with kids in general,
(08:41):
would create a little bit of like a competition on
set and stuff. But for me and a lot of
people I've talked to, it was like, No, I was
just excited to be there.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
I didn't care about what role they gave me. I
was just stoked to be there living.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
So for me, I felt like, you know, maybe that
was that person's journey. But so many people I've I've
worked with.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Later on that we're on the channel. A lot of them.
Speaker 5 (09:05):
The way you start off is you go for the
league and then from there they don't but they like you.
They want to find somewhere where you fit, so that
that's amazing. And they gave you Guys both apart.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Like that's do me and girls are.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Like their fears to get they got that power behind them.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
You know, and I still get like every once in
a while they'll be like, oh, you're the girl. You know,
you're the ones that's oos and and we love you now,
but we hated you back then, you know. So it's
it's cool. It's it's cool to still be part of
people's childhoods.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yes, absolutely, So what was it like, I mean, you're
on a show that becomes a juggernaut and it becomes
literally a cultural phenomenon. You're watching this kind of from
the driver's seat, there, you're sitting there watching it from
day one?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Do you have any idea that can you sense what's coming?
Is there any I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
When did you first start to realize, wait a second,
we're onto something here.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I think probably a few Once once it premiered, Honestly,
it was like overnight success. Now. I was again, I'm
fully moved from the Bay Area to LA when when
it did get picked up, because my agent was like, oh,
there's no way you're going to go back and forth
doing this. You're going to be a recurring role, so
(10:20):
you're going to be in it for a lot of
the episodes. So I think obviously when I first met Miley,
I kind of knew that there was definitely something going on,
like she is a star, a star taking back then
and I if it wasn't for her, I don't think
this it wouldn't have been this successful. I think it
(10:41):
was Miley's doing and just in general, like casting did
such a good job with even having her dad play
a real dad. And then you know Jason Earls, who
I recently connected with. Again, it's just perfectly cast it.
We even had Blue in our pilot, so you know,
I just feel like, uh, we just wanted it to
be picked up, and then it was just being noticed
(11:05):
and everything afterwards and how successful it was. There was
no social like again, there was no social media back then,
so people actually watched the channel and when we were
going out and things like that, we were getting recognized,
and then we got picked up for like how many
more seasons after all seasons? Yeah? Wow, Yeah, it was nice.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
I mean, you guys were definitely the first of its
kind on the channel, being something that was going to
have performance driven production and everything for every episode. And
I know that the channel went through quite a journey
to get the show to even be cast, Like, fully,
did you know who Billy ray Cyrus was or did
your mom have? Did your mom fill you in? Because
(11:46):
he was so off the game. A key Breaky Heart
was a song when I was like seven years old
and was my first tap song.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
That was when it was big, and you're talking a
decade later basically.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
So him coming on the channel was like a golden
idea his the duo with him and his daughter. But
also like that fan base, that country fan base, I mean,
if they were gonna watch the channel, but they weren't
getting him anywhere else.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
They were watching the channel. Yeah, like that was brilliant.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Really, Yes, I did know of him. He's probably the
only one I knew that was gonna be in the
cast because my parents and my mom were like, oh,
we know Failure Cyrus and like it was the line
dance at every wedding and so it was like we
wow and yeah, Like honestly that that dynamic between them
was great. It just really really worked.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, did you ever?
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So? Okay, I obviously I was older than the Hannah
Montana age, so I wasn't watching Hannah Montana at the time.
But of course we've gone back and watched the movie
for the podcast and then to get into the movie.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
They said, oh, you should watch an episode or two,
which we did.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Right, did you at the time question or have any
problems with no one recognizing her just because she was
wearing a wig.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I'm just curious. I'm just curious.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I you know what, For me, it was the magic
of Disney. People, right, won't know who she is, and
but you know, like it is kind of questionable as
a kid, especially if you're going to school with somebody
that looks exactly the same and it's just a different hairstyle, right,
if they did that this today, it wouldn't work right.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, if I went to school with Madonna but she
had dark hair, I wouldn't be like, Wow, that's I
don't recognize her at all.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
But again, I wasn't the demographic. I wasn't the demographic. Okay.
So it's a few.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Years later, not even is it right after where you
get a little film called camp Rock, which is of
course wonderful Disney's energy and trying to keep everything, but
is one of the things that you're going to be
most well known for being in all these projects with
all of these like pop stars, And what was it
(13:57):
like getting first getting cast and what was the audition
process like for that and then meeting the Jonas brothers
and everybody kind of involved.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
So I have a different story with my casting experience. Obviously,
I was in the middle of doing Hannah Montana and
I still had to audition for the movie, obviously, but
I only auditioned for the role of Mitchie, and I
was not given the full script and just the certain
size I had to do for the audition. And I
(14:27):
auditioned for I think maybe three or four times, and
I didn't hear back for like three four weeks and
I thought, Okay, I'm not part of it. It's fine,
move on, And all of a sudden, I get a
call saying, well, we want they want to offer you
the role of Ella, and I was like, who's I
had no idea what it was, and they said, it's
(14:48):
like a similar role with their character from Hannah. So
I definitely was typecasted, which is fine, It's fine. I
was like, oh, yeah, I'll be a part of this
new musical movie. And I did not have a dance call.
I did not have a singing audition as well. So
and also during that casting process, which is a story
(15:09):
I don't think I've ever told, I was doing an
episode of a show called Just Jordan on Nickelodeon. Yeah, oh,
and Demi was in that same episode as me, and
that's where we first connected. We had the same agent
at the time, and we kind of talked about it,
and that's where I was kind of like, oh, I
(15:30):
really think that she's Mitchie. But I don't say anything,
but I rightly feel it. Like she again when I
first met her, she's a star, Like I really think
this is her And the next thing I know, I'm
being flown out to Toronto and that's where we meet
up again.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Wow. Okay, so how now you said you're being type cast,
which obviously you were. You seem to be an absolutely
lovely person. Why do you think all of a sudden
you're being cast as the bully all.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Over the place.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
We have no idea. I really don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I mean just that you played it well when you
when you were given the shots.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
But I mean it's so strange that, yeah, someone so
nice is constantly being played, you know, playing the bully.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
And I feel like that happens with most characters too.
I've heard it, like the girls play the mean girls,
and then it's the opposite for the well.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Especially when like the Channel, when they fall in love
with you and they are like, oh, she can do this, Okay,
we're gonna put her there, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
And it seems like with the Channel.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
The more and more people we interview, the more and
more we realize how fast, like the casting goes from
like zero to like one fifty, and people are just
being flown out to like wherever you're flying to to shoot.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Like they're making that.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
It starts slow, and then all of a sudden it's
like decision decision, decision, this is done, We've got the like.
So they had you in their pocket of like, we
know she's great at this, we know she can had
you had you gotten an opportunity ever on Hannah Montana
to sing?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Was that something that they gave you for your role ever?
Because did they know you could sing? Because you said
you didn't really go to any of the other auditions.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Well, they knew I could sing because when I first
auditioned as for the Help.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Okay, so my character called to was called to sing
bad in Montana. So you know, somebody who was classically
trained growing up a performer musical theater, I was really
upset when I got that episode.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I worked all this hard. I worked so hard for this, Oh.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
God, And at the time even I had expressed it
to my Asian and they understood too, and so they
even had a moment where I was able to go
into the room with some of the producers and I
sang for them again and they loved it. But at
the end of the day, I still was that character
that's sang bad, and I really think it's because I
just had that comedic timing down for that, you know, yeah, again,
(17:59):
I was, and I knew deep down there would be
more opportunities for me to showcase my voice. So I
kind of swallowed the hard pill and said, you.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Know, I'm a actor.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
I'm going to do this. And for a while, I think,
up until I did Camp Rock, people did think that
I could sing bad, and I was like, no, no,
but you know I did other things and you know
it was fine.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yes, yeah, Well I was going to ask what was
shooting Camp Rock like, because we've heard, for instance, some
of the stories we've heard from some people are they
had fun doing both, but it was very different shooting
camp Rock one to shooting Camp Rock two. We've heard
that kind of stuff, So let's just start with Camp
Rock one. What was the vibe on the set like?
And what was it like your experience shooting that film?
Speaker 4 (18:40):
So my experience, first off, when I got there, I
got the call sheet from my first day was going
to be a dance rehearsal, and because I was casted
kind of later, I had no idea this was going
to be a dance movie. So I thought it was
going to be like Lemonade, you know, like singing primarily singing.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Bands, especially Jonas Brothers band. Yeah, exactly, we got instruments
going here.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Okay, So I did not come prepared. I had no
dance gear, no dance clothing, nothing. So I saw the
call sheet said Alison Stoner my name dance rehearsal I said,
oh no, My mom said, pack it up. You're getting
sent hole. Because I had no prior dance experience before
Camp Rock. Oh my doing my like theater. But that
(19:27):
was different, you know. So the day prior, I went
shopping with my mom. We got all the dance like
the sweats, the shoes and everything. And I walked in
there and I don't know, God was on my side,
but I kept up with Alison and the choreographer was
really impressed, which was like, thank God.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So you had no dance training or any you didn't
really dance at all before you watch.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Too much Dan, did you recognize Alison's name? Like, not
only are you going to dance and you you aren't.
You aren't messaging real comfortable in your own skin, just
because you didn't feel prepared.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
You know, you didn't feel like you had the background.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
But you're going against one of the most well known
camp dancers of.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
The nineties and two thousands, like that's why, that's why
my mom said, you're you're getting fired for this, and
I was like, no, no, no, oh, I am so proud.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
You showed up. I don't think every kid would have even.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
With that much anxiety of just you know, oh wow,
well good for you and good job you killed it.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
That I know, thank God. And I met the Jonas
brothers and they were so sweet. Again. The first time
I met the Jonahs brothers, we were rehearsing four Start
the Party, which was a dance sequence, and obviously they
they're not dancers, so it was an interesting time. But
they were just the nicest guys. I had already been
fans of that is prior, so I knew that them
(20:55):
being part of Camp Rock was going to be something special,
especially with Demi right.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
The chemistry that the cast had that first movie is
just I mean, it looked like it looked like what
it probably was was a bunch of young actors really
being able to come together and like look at each
other and go like, this is our shot.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
We can make this giant, you know, and we wanted to.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
We were kind of along the lines of the high
school musical time and it's like if we could be
half as successful as High School Happy, you know. And
then with the second movie, again it was very different
because we had the stardom of Demi and the Jonas brothers,
and we had a different director, we had a different choreographer.
The dancing was so much harder, and I did half
(21:42):
of that movie with a spring foot, so all of
the dance numbers, especially we Can't Back Down, which is
the you know, the the sign language one. I was struggling,
and me watching it back, I was like, I could
see that struggle. I'm sure now that I'm telling everyone,
people will watch it back and be like, oh, yeah,
(22:02):
that she did not turn on beat, Like there was
no way, but yeah, it was. It was a harder
time for us because it was freezing cold the fall,
and a lot of night shoots, which I don't recall
having in the first movie at all. So it was
very different. And also, just like the privacy with everything,
(22:24):
we had to be more private with this movie because
the Jonahs' brothers were more well known, Deman was more
well known, so a lot of it was kind of
filmed in secret. I mean, you know, we weren't on
social media, so that was a nice thing. But yeah,
it was. It was definitely different, but still a lot
of fun for me.
Speaker 5 (22:41):
Yeah, Okay, I've got to ask, because I've thought about this,
what would it be like or what is it like
when you're on set? I guess asked, say, if I'm
right or not, imagine being on set with Joe Jonas,
(23:02):
Nick Jonas, and Kevin This is how I would see
the daily activity behind the scene. Nick is somewhere sitting
on a log with his guitar writing music.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Okay, you're not true accurate, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Okay, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
Joe is within a group of girls flirting his little
booty off. No, I mean no, no, he was such
a flirt every time, not like but just he's got
He's very charismatic, and the girls just I guess the
girls just get like attracted to him.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Yeah, I mean he is very friendly, but he was
more just like pranking all everybody on set.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Oh I love that. Oh that's even better. That's a
better that's a better image for sure.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
And then Kevin was always on his phone, texting with
his girlfriend who is now his wife and they've got
children and all of that was he always always on
his phone a.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
Little bit, but he was also very present and big
brother on set made sure oh yeah, yeah. He was
always checking in on everybody.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
He was the oldest, right, Yes, yes, Kevin's the oldest,
and he is.
Speaker 5 (24:02):
He's very taken on the big brother, the wise older
man type. Yes, you know, I love he's He's so sweet.
Every time I've been around the guys, like they're the best,
But I always think of like what it would be
like on like you know, not like a one day
of set, like when I would see you guys. It
was like very shooting for just a few days, like
weeks and weeks of it, like what their day to
day thing. I just feel like every time you come
(24:24):
out of like the food area, you see off in
the distance, like Nick just like vibing out to writing
in his notebook making the songs like yeah, I don't know,
that's just my dream, I guess.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Oh no, it really was. It was like that we
were It was shot in a camp, so it was
like a it felt like a real like campy movie
and we just we had a good time. And it
really picked up after that too, because I ended up
going on tour with the Jonahs for his brothers for
the camp Rock tour. Okay, yeah, we did that for like,
I want to say, five months.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Wow. What was that like? Were you guys on buses
together traveling around?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (25:02):
So the cast that went was my cell m Dot
who played Luke he was the one who sang fire
in the second movie, Jordan Francis, and then Alison and
so we were on our own bus and our and
our parents were on our bus as well, and then
Jonas Buzz had their own bus, and then the dancers
had their own bus and obviously the rest of the
(25:23):
So in the in the US, we did bus around
city to city and that was really fun for me
because I was sort of getting into music and at
the time, Kevin Jonas Senior was my manager.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Oh wow wow.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
He helped me with a little bit of music during
that time. And then we went to South America to
get a tour over there for a little bit.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
And what was that like. Were you guys on a
bus in South America? Were you guys flying? You're flying? Okay,
we were flying.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Then we had like local buses just to get to
the venues, but we flew to each city for that.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Now are you dancing and singing these shows? How does
that work with the rest of the cast. You're all
doing the big kind of dance numbers and singing it. Wow.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Yeah, So they had it was a camp Rock two tour,
so we had most of the songs from the camp
Rock two movie, and uh, I think we had one
or two from the first movie, and we would We
opened before the Jonas brothers, so our little gig was
before and also during, so there were there was a
moment during their set where they would sing their camp
Rock two songs and we would come out and dance
(26:27):
with them.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
So fun.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Oh, it was a lot of fun. I really had
a great time and have the best memories from that time.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yes, speaking of speaking of the fact that you're with
some of the most talented people, yourself among them. You're
just part of this talented crew of young entertainers. You're
then cast in the Fame movie. Oh that just like
chock full of incredibly talented young performers. What is that
(26:55):
experience like and is it as grueling as it would
appear to be?
Speaker 4 (26:59):
I want to say no, Okay, I think I was
casted between the first movie and the second movie, because
I remember I didn't go to my premiere because I
was filming Camp Rock Tour.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Too, reason to not go to.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I'm sorry, I can't go to the premiere. I'm filming.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
But I did enjoy it so much, and obviously we
were a whole like remake of it, and I played
Joy and she was kind of like the student that
goes to the arts high but ends up quitting because
she gets on a TV show. So that was very
much like my Oh she was like the actor in
(27:38):
the movie. And I really truly enjoyed my time doing
that movie. And I got to have a one on
one scene with a really huge actors. She's slipping my
mind up, Debbie, Debbie Allen, Oh my god. I was
the only one that got to have that scene with her.
So I was pretty iconic. And again some people still
(27:58):
are like, oh, I remember you from Fame. You were
the one that got drunk and threw up in the
like that was you. You wrapped in that movie and
you yeah, so yeah, it's fun and nostalgic.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Did you go on and watch the original Fame before
you did the film?
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Yes? I did, okay, you know, And there was there
was like rumors about them not wanting to hire Disney
actors just among like people who were auditioning and they're like,
we want new actors. And I was really lucky that
the producer and the director at the time really believed
in me, and I did have to work a lot
with an acting coach to kind of ground me and
(28:36):
not have that Disney.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, the Disney quality. Yep, the Disney acting qualities.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
You're big, I know, I know. So it was very
different in that way. But yeah that I am still
friends with some of them to this day, and it's
it's a nice thing. And my daughter hasn't seen it yet.
That's one thing I was just about.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
To ask, has she seen now?
Speaker 1 (28:54):
What?
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Have she seen?
Speaker 2 (28:55):
The camp Rock movies?
Speaker 4 (28:56):
She's seen both camp Rock movies. She hasn't seen Hannah
Montana because I don't think she gonna understand it.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yet and because they changed.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Very confusing. She very confusing.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
Oh fine, I'm sure she she looks like she's into
dancing and singing herself, so I'm sure she was just vibing.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Out mama up on that screen. Oh how fun for her?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Did she prefer the first one or the second one? Oh?
Speaker 4 (29:23):
She loves the first one. Okay, Yeah, she loves the
first one because of just the songs like this is
Me Gotta Find You, all of that, even the beginning song,
she sings it all the time. I actually took her
to her first concert and it was the Jonahs brother
Oh You Okay, And she had a blast and I
just saw it in her eyes, like when they came
(29:43):
on stage, she had this look of complete awe And
I was like, wait, is she having her first crush?
Because this is kind of like for me, because she
really like her mouth dropped. And then she met them
afterwards and they were so sweet to her. And now
she can't stop singing all the Jonas Brothers songs. Oh
for sure, she's four.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
I love that. I love that well do you? I mean?
Speaker 5 (30:12):
And it could be for any reason, but for you?
What did What did you think of the two movies?
Which one stands out more? Is it the first one
or the second one? Like as far as when you
look back and see when you're watching with.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Your kid, you're seeing her interaction things like that.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
I do think that I like the first one more.
Speaker 5 (30:29):
I'm with you too, there's something so magical about that
first one. And I agree, you know, it feels like
there was I can't we could not even really put
when we reviewed it, put our thumb on what it
was that just I mean to me, the the thing
about the first one, like you said with your daughter,
the music is just so memorable. It is just it
(30:52):
stays with you, You remember it, you hear it. When I
mean the second Demi comes on screen anywhere, I don't
care if she's doing a commercial for the Jerry like
for Jerio's I'm hearing this is me like I'm just
I hear it, I hear it, I feel it.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
I like live for that song.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I think there's also, though, there's something to a purity
of a movie before any of the people in it
become big stars. Yeah, it just it changes it with
the second you. And again it's not necessarily bad. Think
High School Musical two was great. We're getting into all
that stuff. But there's a purity of we're happy to
be here, we're excited to be here. There's something about
(31:29):
that that the camera catches that changes when you've got
big stars. And again, it doesn't make it better or worse,
it's just different. There's I don't know, there's a purity
about it that I think you lose a little bit.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
There's definitely an authenticity in the first one that's different
than the second one. And there were different like musical
numbers that like showcase all of us as like as
different characters. Yes, so like what my daughter love is
that I had like an ostall a Vista moment at
the end of the first movie. Yes, we all got
(32:00):
to perform our own numbers. That was what was different
with the second one. Now, the second one, I will
say like we definitely up the dancing. I feel like
they wanted it to be a little bit more like
high school musical. And then obviously the Jonas like Nick
had his own little moment and he had his own
little love. So again it was different. But I still
(32:23):
go back to the first one every I'm like, what's
your favorite one? It's the first one.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Yeah, I don't know, as Sabrina knows, she's the resident
dance expert.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I know very little about dance.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
But in the second one, when I saw this a
number of times, I was like, maybe they're.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Phoning it in a little bit.
Speaker 5 (32:39):
For the second one, I just feel like the yeah,
the dance, the choreography.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
For me, it's something that I just.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
I mean, I that's like my giant background is in dance.
So for the first one, like although it was I
guess the choreography was more simple, it showcased better than
the second one.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
The second one I think.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
Was a little bit the it was a little too
much of a reach. Yeah, and it just honestly, I
mean even watching Alison, which I can watch dance for
hours and hours, and I have done it on their Instagram,
I just scroll and scroll and scroll.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
But truly, I.
Speaker 5 (33:16):
It wasn't even like they didn't even seem like they
loved what they were having their body, so it was
it was just didn't And again maybe it was just
kind of too much of.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
A reach, but this the first one was fine. I
don't know why don't have to go pass on?
Speaker 2 (33:31):
I have to Well, speaking of.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Going past that, we have to ask have you heard
anything about Camp Rock three?
Speaker 4 (33:38):
As far as I know, I'm not involved. I've talked
to a few other people and they're not involved. So
I really do think that it's it's just going to
be the Jonas brothers and maybe DEMI like that would
be iconic and I would totally support it because it's
honestly just probably going to be something like passing the torch.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
On and like with the Zombies franchise, the.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
Zombies franchise, so if there is one that's amazing, it'll
be a whole new demographic and whole new audience. So
I don't know, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
I had a pitch for Disney for Camp Rock three,
which is okay, that starts with the camp being destroyed.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
It's post apocalyptic and so the dance numbers.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
It's kind of like zombies meets caking camp.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
Zombies they just were at camp.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
We always was a camp.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
Andre we know that they did a camp.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
It can't be that.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Well, well, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. Okay.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
So you mentioned that growing up you were a big
Disney Channel fan. We have to ask what's your favorite
d com of all time? Oh?
Speaker 4 (34:38):
I have two? Sorry, I have two. Okay, okay, Date
with a Present and the Cheetah Girls movie. I'm not
joking when I tell you I love the OG movies
growing up when I was ten, you know, eleven years old. Obviously,
(35:00):
like with the Cheetah Girls, I was I loved girl
groups growing up, so when the Cheetah Girls came on,
I was like, this is amazing. Oh my goodness, your movie.
I really truly thought this was like a real life movie,
like the daughter went on a date with a normal guy.
(35:20):
That's so cool.
Speaker 5 (35:22):
Do you think they were actually at the Lincoln Memorial
Because they were.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
I believe every single thing in that movie growing up.
So yeah, yeah, those were my favorite movie.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Well, that's wonderful to hear.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I'm always typecast as the normal guy, same same kind
of thing.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Oh my. Well.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
One of the reasons that we've been having so much
fun with this podcast is because there's been this wave
of nostalgia that has really swept across everybody of.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
A certain age, and it's kind of we're noticing.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
I mean, I'm almost fifty, you are both almost in
your twenties, so we're in that same kind You know
that we span some generations, but it seems to kind
of be hitting everyone. Have you felt kind of the
new a new kind of resurgence of the love for
these movies coming back and people coming up to you
and talking to you about them.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent. Well on my socialist because
I do a lot of social media now and content creation.
When I first started doing my tiktoks, I did a
lot of Disney throwback videos and those blew up instantly,
and so there is that audience still that really loves
the nostalgia of the old Disney Channel and you know,
(36:33):
a hand them Montana camp Rock and now that like
the Jonas Brothers are coming back and Demi came back
with them and all of that, it has really come
back full circle. Like I'm still getting even at the
Jonas Brothers concert, They're like, we love you, we love
your character, we love doing camp Rock. You're my childhood
is what I get all the time. So crazy, and
(36:53):
yeah it is crazy now that I'm like I have
a kid, but like it's great. I honestly love it.
Love being part of people's childhoods and the nostalgia of
it all, and I hope to continue to be part
of it because you know what else can you ask for?
Like you were, yeah, people, you were part of people's
upbringing pretty yes.
Speaker 5 (37:14):
And even though I mean for you with your characters
not always being like the nice one, you were still
part of a Disney Channel cast. And yeah, the messaging
behind every episode or every movie is something.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
That like.
Speaker 5 (37:27):
The majority of people that are watching will not walk
away going oh that like that didn't make me feel good. Yeah, right,
try to watch something that doesn't like on the channel
that doesn't make you, like feel good, you know, you
might not be good Like that might not be your
favorite pocket.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
It's fuzze Bucket. Okay, Buzzocket does not make us feel good?
Is not Fuzzbucket was.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Really one of the first movies we did. It was
on The Wonderful World of Disney.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
And it was one of the weird It's a weird
failed pilot.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
The entire movies like forty five minutes long, and it's
about this kid who has this goo that turns into
this creature called Fuzzbucket. It's an acid trip. It's a
giant acid trip. It's really weird. But it did not
make me feel good about anything.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
It was not great, but all right, so I said
the majority of it. There are somewhere we actually have
recently watched one I won't say the name, but that
was just like, this.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Is just one of the weirdest movies we've ever seen.
Speaker 5 (38:29):
But for the most part, especially during the time you
were on the channel, the Disney was nailing it on
the head of every single thing that they were. This
was their empire, like.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
Like it was the same time as like Wizards of
Waverley Place yea.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
And they were not they were not swinging and missing.
They were hitting it out of the ballpark.
Speaker 5 (38:49):
Everybody, yes, And so we're lucky that we were able
to really be a part of that time on the channel.
Because when someone says that you know they were your
you're you were their child, it's like you always know
that was in like a good way that they they
had a bad day at school, they came home and
watched and like that that started them a new a
new part of their day, you know.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
So fun.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
Yeah, I mean, I'm so lucky, Like I still I
had a great time with my career with Disney, and
it has come full circle again, like I'm with my daughter,
I'm doing like campaigns with Disney again. So it's yeah,
it's been It's been a great time.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
And did you do Jonas Khan as well?
Speaker 5 (39:29):
I did do Jonas khn tell us about that, oh
the mania Like at Jonahs Khan.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
I found out like a week prior and the Jonahs
brothers DMed me and I was like, wait, okay, this
is cool, Like had no idea they were doing this
and it was at the I feel like what's the
mall called, but in New Jersey one of the biggest.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Males American Dream American Dream.
Speaker 4 (39:51):
Yes, it was insane, Like the mall was full of
people like from all ages, from older like you got
grandma's like little babies there. And the Brothers performed throughout
the whole day. So they performed like fifteen to twenty
times at different parts of like they were staked everywhere.
(40:12):
Oh my gosh, we were there. We were able to
do like a little podcast moment on the stage and
it was actually impossible to get around because people were
like bombarding my It was myself, Matthew and Megan, and
it was nice to come back and support them and
do that for them. And then again after that, I
(40:33):
was able to do this Samsung TV live event for
their kickoff show for the Greetings from Your Hometown tour.
So I took that with Franklin Jonas and we were like,
you know, hosts for.
Speaker 5 (40:44):
The Oh my and okay, that's the one that was
in Camp Rock too, right, Yes.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
He was a baby in Camp Rock too, And.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
So did they call him Franklin? Now, wasn't he Frankie?
Speaker 4 (40:54):
He was frank I'm sure they was Franky. Okay, that's
my Franklin now. And I was able to do a
little dual moment with him.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Fun, so that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
He's all grown up now too. That's got to be
a trip.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
John.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
He's taller than all of them, so it's like wow wow.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Okay, So for our final question here, I'd like to
ask you, and this is kind of putting you on
the spot and it's rough, but okay, your favorite if
you had to pick one favorite project you were in
for the Disney Channel, what would be your favorite thing
that you ever did.
Speaker 5 (41:32):
It's the rudest question, but we have to ask it.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
It doesn't mean you like the other ones less, but
just slightly less.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
I think it's probably gonna have to be Hannah Montana.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
I want to say that just because I wouldn't have
gotten Camp Rock if it wasn't for Hannah Montana. Yeah,
I I And that was my introduction to Disney Channel. Like,
like over the years, I was still in shop that
I was getting to work with these iconic people, Like
even during the times that we were off, we were
(42:08):
doing those Disney Channel promo shoots and then.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
The Disney Inner stitchles.
Speaker 4 (42:14):
I was working with the likes of you, Sabrina and
and Brendan Raven and so early on my career with
Hannah Montana was really special to me, and I think
it would have to be that fair enough.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Hey, when your favorite thing is Hannah Montana on the channel,
that's not a.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
Bad answer, not a bad ass.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
That's pretty great. Thank you so much for joining us.
Today has really cool.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
And yeah, hopefully we'll all we'll all be at at
Camp Rock three.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
I'll see you guys at the events and everything.
Speaker 3 (42:48):
But yes, for sure, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Thank you, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Have a good day.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
She is so sweet and I love that because she's
kind of said it in passing, but it's so true
where she's like, you know, a lot of times you
hear the person that plays the bully or the mean
girl or the mean guy is the nicest person in
the world, and sometimes the person who plays the every
person lead nicest person.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
In the world maybe not the nicest person in the
world in real life.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
So true. So that's con acting.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
It's call acting. But man, what a what a career.
That's totally cool.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
And the idea I always again, I have no children,
but when I see actors and I hear about their
kids and you hear how performative they are.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
It's like, oh, you're raising an actor. Good luck with that.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
I know, you know, and it's hard.
Speaker 5 (43:41):
I'll tell you because I've got I just recently got
like an opportunity that came through, like her dance studio
and the same like ver Monroe looking at agent, like
an agent come in there. There's like a call casting
call type thing, and she talks about doing stuff like
that so much, I feel like I would like take
Kurt and then probably have an anxiety attack myself and
(44:03):
be like, oh no, no, we're not doing this.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
We gotta go, you gotta go.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Yeah. Yeah, Well, Ryder Strong talks about it all the
time because he's like the joke is that he goes,
oh hey, by the time Ryder's son Indy was five
or six, he's like, I realized I was raising Wilfred Hell.
He said, you guys are like exactly the same. He goes,
and that scared the hell out of me. And it's
the same thing where he's already did. He's Indy's already
doing voiceovers and dunes and like, yeah, raising an actor
(44:29):
from an actor. Raising an actor has got to be
a pretty sketchy thing. Is just you know the industry,
or at least you did until whatever this version of
the industry.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Is, which version is so different than any of us.
Speaker 5 (44:39):
I feel terrible when people I feel like people that
I know that whose kids are interested in acting, and
they asked me what can I do?
Speaker 3 (44:47):
I'm like, I Instagram.
Speaker 5 (44:50):
Now you got to tell you because the way I
got into the industry just doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
It's not the same, doesn't.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
It's not the same. So I have no idea.
Speaker 5 (45:00):
Yeah, yeah, no, well's great to have her on. We've
been waiting and waiting for her to be able to
come on. I'm so excited to see her twice recently.
The second time I had enough guts to go up
to her and be like, we.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Really love you to come on the podcast. And she
was like, oh my gosh. The last time they reached out,
it just didn't work out, but I would love to.
So then we connected, you know, and she's like, I
would love to.
Speaker 5 (45:24):
I've listened to you guys and like this sounds so
much fun to be on, so I want to come.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
I'm like perfect.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
So she was an awesome guest and you're all awesome
people out there listening to us talking to our awesome guests,
and I'm just going to keep saying awesome until we
turn it into a drinking game.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
We're not going to do that in any way, shape
or form.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
But thank you everybody so much for joining us, and
you can listen to every interview we have here on
this feed. We've got some great ones. Really, you should
check them out because they are so much fun. And
until then, be nice to each other and we'll see
you next time.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Bye, everybody. Ye
Hosts And Creators
Will Friedle
Sabrina Bryan
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