September 1, 2025 • 51 mins
Liz Gillies joins us for a candid conversation about her journey from Broadway to Victorious and beyond. She opens up about her childhood acting days, performing in 13 with Ariana Grande, the audition that led to Jade West, and how Nickelodeon shaped her life. Liz also reflects on moments of doubt in the industry, the pressure of being an actress, and the differences between Broadway and TV. With stories about board games at the Grande household, her marriage, and the key to longevity in her career, this interview offers a rare and authentic look at Liz Gillies’ life on and off screen.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to Post Run High.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Today's guest is someone I have been so excited to
sit down with, actress and singer Liz Gillies. You might
know Liz from her breakout role on Victorious as Jade
or from her unforgettable performance on Dynasty. Liz has always
stood out to me for her wit, honesty, and the
way she brings so much depth and dimension into every
role she takes on. In this conversation, you're going to
(00:27):
hear a side of Liz that fans don't always get
to see. We talked about her early life and what
first drew her into performing, her journey navigating Hollywood, and
the lesson she's learned along the way. Liz is thoughtful, hilarious,
and so refreshingly open. So I just know you're gonna
love this one before we jump in. I love hearing
your ideas for the show, so please follow me on
(00:49):
Instagram at Kate Max and send me a DM with
your dream guest pics for Post Run High. All right,
let's get into today's episode with Liz Gillies.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Elizabeth Gillies, Welcome to Post Run High.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I feel like I have a post run High and
I'm sweating, which is freaking me out.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Okay, you were just telling me a little bit about
the lore behind you don't sweat.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, I really don't until today as a person. And
then there was a whole thing because my character on
Victoria's Jade famously said that she doesn't sweat, that sweating
is gross, so she doesn't do it. And I've kind
of lived by that like my whole life, and I
really don't do kind of I don't exert myself that much.
I don't anyway. I think the combination today of the
corduroy hat I'm wearing that does match the chair, the
(01:42):
humidity outside, the high temperatures, and then the jogging and
sometimes sprinting accidentally that we did outside, You've taken me there.
So I'm sitting here sweating in an interview, which makes
me I'm humbled. Let's just say that.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
No, I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
You did incredible on the run.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
We ran about them through Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Every time I say the word Brooklyn, I don't know why,
but I like tongue twister it Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
But I actually did a pretty good job there.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You can't say Brooklyn. Isn't that weird Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
It's like such a weird word.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
You say, Dumbo, Dumbo. It's easy.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, we ran a couple of miles through Dumbo. Yeah,
a mile.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
It was pretty, it was pretty by the water. It
was a good it was a good call to go
that way.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
But I find it so funny that you say you
don't sweat, because I would imagine when you're running around
on stage.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
With the full face of makeup, like, yeah, do you
sweat that or no?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
No, Audrey is not like a princess track because she
does have a lot going on in the show. But
I always I get breaks, so it's like, I'll go
my character the name is Audrey that I'm playing in
the show, a little shop of frs right now, and
I get breaks, So it's like a Seymour. The lead
character gets no breaks. He's almost never off stage. So
that's a sweaty roll for sure. But no, I try
(02:49):
not to and I generally don't. I'm really shocked right now.
Do I look really gross?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
No?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
You look great.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Maybe I look glowy, which never happens because I like
to matten my face down like a corpse. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
First Sweaty Podcast, yeast Sweaty interview, and last I hope.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
But I'm happy to be here with you, and I'm
proud of myself and us, proud of you for being
able to look at me like this, and proud of
me for not leaving.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
You look incredible at Let's talk about movement in your
life outside of performing and outside.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Of me making you run. Okay, Like, what does movement look.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Like for you? I love taking a good walk, I
love hiking. I've done the Have you heard of the Ranch?
I've done the Ranch twice. No, it's basically a hiking retreat.
I did it in Malibu and I did it in
Hudson Valley in New York. And you hike for about
four hours a day, quite difficult terrain, and you cut
caffeine and sugar and everything. And it's a retreat for
anywhere from like I think three to seven days or
(03:40):
something like that.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So I usually do the short one with random people.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Oh, yes, with random people. I always. I brought my
mom the first time, my friend Raphael the second time,
which was funny. But no, you're supposed to do it
with random people and get to know them because it's
intense and you're like tortured. But it's also luxurious and fantastic,
so that's very interesting. But movement wise, I'm I'm a
very hyper person and I'm very into errands, and I'm
(04:03):
into a lot of housework. And it's funny because I
have an ORR ring and it recognizes when I do housework.
But the calories I'll burn and the steps I'll get
in like sometimes thirty thousand steps doing housework, which is amazing.
But no, I mean I'm dodging around the question, which
is I don't work out. I don't run unless it's
like someone's like can you can you do you think
you can run faster than me that I'm like, yeah,
I can, and I'll sprint and then I'll hurt myself
or like my husband, I got a rowing machine and
(04:24):
I went down and saw like his score or whatever,
and then I beat it, but then I was injured
for three days. So that's kind of my relationship with
working out. It's all rooted in competitiveness and challenges and
challenging myself and not health. Does that make sense, Yeah, no,
it does.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I get the competitiveness. I mean I feel like to
bad competitive.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
No, it's being competitive is always a good thing in
my mind.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I mean some people take it a little bit too far.
I hate that.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I can't like the people that take being competitive in
board games too far.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Is I know some people like that. It can be fun,
but it's it's it's crazy. Yeah, my dad.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Gets a little too competitive with board games and I've
had to not play with.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
The board games with the Grande. That's an intense thing,
but it's very cool. It's an honor. Oh what Arianna's
family is famously they're incredibly competitive and into board games.
They even didn't One of her Saturday Life sketches was
based off of that sort of a little bit. And
and yeah, I've played with them a few times and
it's always very memorable. They're they're incredible. But I know
(05:22):
what you mean.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
What board games?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Something for Neanderthals. That was the last one we played
Poetry for Neanderthals. I think it's very fun. I brought
it home to my family and then we all went
crazy playing it, So I think it's maybe the game.
But yeah, it was really funny. Really try it.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I love a good board game.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I really like Kaitan, but playing Gaiton with my family
sometimes gets Yeah, it takes it.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Everyone separates in the house after you play. Everyone needs
a private time to regroup, remember why you love each other.
I'm sorry, this is something I do, I'll majorly derail
the conversation. So I love this.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I love this.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I was saying that I don't work out. I'm not
self motivated, Like I won't just go down to the
gym because I know it'll help my overall health. That's
insane even or body like I was like, that's not
enough for me. But if I'm like, like I remember
I had to do I did this movie, uh the
remake or whatever the whatever of vacation and I had
to be in a bikini and they cast me like
(06:11):
two weeks before, and I remember I just took like
cardio bar or whatever the equivalent was back then every
day for two weeks. So that's a great example of
like I don't do anything, and then I do that,
and then I injure myself and then I stop doing
it for like six months. I go too hard.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, but you can't be one hundred percent all the
time with working out, Like I feel like it's best
when you go in waves like that, and like you
really go hard when you have to get ready for something, right, Like,
that's how I feel everybody's But I mean, I work
out a lot for my job, but like I used
to run all the time, Like before I started the
Running Interview show, I would run like six miles a day,
which is nuts.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
It just running help your mental a lot too, That's
what I'll say.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, Like I feel like it's it's more mental for
me than it is. HiT's so right now if it's
like if I want to get in shape for something,
like I have my wedding coming up in September, and
so I'm like, okay, as soon as it hits August,
like I'm going to start going to like toning classes.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
You know, perfect though you don't need to do I
know you feel a certain thy Yes, yeah, I'm just
like everybody says they were. I'll tell you what though,
I lost ten pounds before my wedding purely out of
stress because of all the things. It's like it becomes
i mean between like and mine was a tiny, little
pandemic wedding, but it's like the flowers and this and
the that, and then there was like a storm and
a power outage and maybe we won't have cater It
was just like there was so much going on, and
(07:19):
then we also drove an RV from Atlanta up to
New Jersey and with our dogs. So all that, I
think it'll just it'll just happen on its own. You
won't have to do that much at all.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I kind of wish ours was a small, pandemic wedding
at this point, and I'm like, it's too big.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
That's what happened to mine. The wedding got bigger than big.
If you're a Sex and the City fan, That's what happened.
And then I ended up having like a a Murnie
from Girl's wedding, which was like my dream. Did you
watch Girls?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I did watch Girls?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Remember her little farm wedding? Yeah, Flower Crowns.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yes. But I'm more of a Sex and the City
girl than I am a girl's girl, gotcha, But I
love girls.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
So you were having like Carrie's wedding at the public library.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I feel like that. I feel like that. I mean,
I just have a really big family.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I'm like it. My family's Italian and Irish and.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I'm mean too, because we're from New Jersey, doesn't they
only hop Yes? My dad's one of nine?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Oh wow? Yeah, So how many custins, do you up?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I infinite, I don't know, in the thirties or fist tons.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
So how many people ended up being at your wedding?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Ten total? Yeah, we had to. It was kind of
cool because our original wedding was gonna be over two
hundred because I wanted to invite on the ants and
the uncles, and you know you're gonna get people angry.
It's like, even if you don't want to invite someone,
that person gets mad. So everyone was coming. It was
going to be at the Saint Regis Atlanta. Couldn't have
been more different. And then it was at a farm
in New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
It was awesome and it was hot like it is today,
maybe hotter so like all my makeup was gone and
my hair was curly and frizzy by the first But
it was perfect and beautiful and wonderful and I wouldn't
trade it. And your wedding will beautiful too. September is good.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, Okay, Well, let's rewind a bit because I loved
finding out that you were from New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I did not know that until doing a little research.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Thank you for doing your research.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
And I grew up in New Jersey as well.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So two fellow Burn County Jersey girls absolutely down here today.
So I'd love for you to take us back and
just paint the picture a little bit about what your
life was like growing up in the early years in Jersey,
and then kind of how you broke into the industry.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
More about the same age, right, I'm thirty one. Oh
my god, I guess I'm gonna be thirty two. It's
silly next this month two weeks happy.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I think birthday?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Oh thanks, it was. I think it was the best,
one of the best times to be a kid in
my opinion. I think the nineties and early two thousands
were so much fun and it was a very different
time and it was awesome. I got to have a
totally normal childhood actually, which sounds like funny because I
didn't go to high school. But I mean I knew
a lot of kids that started acting when they were
babies and commercials and stuff, and I didn't leave school
(09:33):
and go, do you know, to start the journey with
the Broadway show. I ultimately did when I was fifteen
until high school. So I have all my same core
best friends from when I was five six years old
that I still hang out with. Now. I got to
go through all of you know, middle school, elementary school
with all of them, and I actually went to prom
like twice. I finagled it somehow, even when I was
on victorious. I just went. I tagged along with friends
(09:54):
or and it was wonderful and my parents were I'm
very I I wouldn't be I literally wouldn't exist because
of them. But I also wouldn't be anywhere in my
career without them, because my parents would leave work and
take me to auditions. My mom would drive me as
you pull me at school and drive me. I mean,
you know, I think so much of being able to
make it or being successful in this type of industry
(10:15):
where there's so much chance and auditions and appointments and
things that lead to nothing a lot of effort. It's
the parents saying Okay, I'm going to help you or not.
Because kids can't drive a car and there's only so
much they could do, which is why it's cool that
there's the Internet in this way now because they can
get seen in a different way or get scouted or
Back then you had to have someone go drive you
to like the local place where agents were in town
(10:37):
for like a day and then maybe you'd get an agent,
maybe you could do a commercial, which is what happened to.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Me, right, and like did your parents weren't in the industry, right.
I think the hardest part is figuring it out right
and like knowing even how to.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
I know, go to auditions. And I think because I
was like maybe forty minutes from the city, it's easier
than when you're like in the middle of America, or
you're or in middle America rather or you're far away
and it seems really unattainable. I saw it, and I
heard about it. I heard about kids being on Broadway
in my town, and to this day, that is like
the most impressive thing you can do. I've done TV,
I've done film. I've done so many episodes of television,
(11:09):
and it just doesn't matter. No one cares something about Broadway.
I meant, I'm off Broadway right now. But luckily people
just say it's They just say it's Broadway. But the
respect and the credit gets maybe because of the lore
of New Jersey and going into the city and it's
so close and people know what it looks like. It
is where Hollywood sort of feels abstract to them. So
everyone from my town has been coming out. It's been
(11:30):
very funny.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
No, I mean, I love Broadway.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I think there's something about live theater that is just
so impressive in the way that and we're going to
get to Little Shop of Horrors and you know your
schedule right now, but it's insane.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
It's like eight shows a week.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Actually, my episode with Ali Trim, who's currently playing glynd
on Broadway.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yes, well, Graham and I who we're in thirteen together.
He's my Seymore right now and Ali was Patrice and
we're all doing it right now. You're all day and
we're all old. No, that's what happens, you guys are
well we were thinking now we're all thirty one. Isn't
that funny?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Mm hm yeah, you're adults. Yeah, but I still feel
like a kid.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
You do, I do sometimes? Yeah, I do feel like
a kid this show.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
This show.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I had a very youthful experience on this show. I
was like everyone around me was younger, especially the first
leg of my run, and I was doing a lot
of fun things and like living out my college years
that I never that I never had, So that was
that was really fun. That so goes with me I
just need like five minutes of that experience and I'm
back to my usual. Like I went to high school
for like five days and I was like, I love it,
I got it. What's next, Let's let's move on. So
(12:30):
but now I still feel young sometimes I feel young
when I'm doing theater because it's my first love and
I feel like, you know, i'd be stoked if kid
me saw me doing this now, so that's good.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Kid, you would be so impressed by everything you've done.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Now.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So when you were in those early.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Years, like what was it that your parents like, who
saw the spark in you first? You know, was it
you that saw it? And you were like, Mom and dad,
I really want to audition for things? Or did your
parents say, wait, she's really talented.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I think it's a combination. They definitely didn't come up
with the idea to like put me in anything other
than classes. I think they're like, oh, she loves to
dance and sing and be loud and obnoxious. We should
put her in acting and singing and dancing classes. But
it was me who was like, we're gonna take this
to the next level. I'd like to do this as
a profession. I'm gonna find a way at like maybe
at nine or ten, I started that trip and they're like, okay, weirdo.
(13:18):
So they they went with it and luckily nurtured it
and but no, I kind of I led the charge
on that one, but they were really I think, you know,
it helps they did see that I had an app
for that. I was kind of not horrible. Must be
hard when your kid love love, love something and they
are a bad at it and you know they're setting
themselves up for But there's failure in everything I've had.
(13:39):
I've experienced tons of failure. It's part of life. It's good. Yeah,
I mean it makes you tell me just a really
small part of it. Yeah, a lot that goes into it.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I think at what point, like how old were you
when you started out doing commercials, right, like that was
your first on screen thing.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, the Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile, it was one of
my first.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
And there was this other like little speaker thing and
I did like a print at for Age and m
that was really funny. I thought I was a model
for five minutes. I had a print. I was not
like many many things I was, but that I just was.
But I was like I walked in thinking it was
like America's accept model, and then it was like an
H and m ad for children, so like they only
put my scare on me, and I was like, shouldn't
I be balancing on one foot with like seaweed over
my chest and like a bird in my head? And
(14:16):
they're like, I think it's different kind of modeling lists
for people that look average.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
But so you do, guys.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
You don't know what I looked like when I was
a kid. I had buck teeth and it was a
different you know, It's like we've sorted out most of it,
but I don't. I don't identify as like a little
model kid. Like there's no chance.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I was watching reruns. I watched this, Like I literally
watched forty minutes of iconic Jade moments this morning. My God,
to prepare to get hyped, just get excited, you know,
because Victoria, it's just you were part of and again,
like we'll get to Victorious. But one of the things
that I was thinking about I was I was watching
you guys, is everybody was so cute.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Like I look back at.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Children, yeah, and like I look back at my high
school self, and I'm like that doesn't even look like
me now, but like you do look like yourself, you know,
I came back to it.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I I had many journeys. I had a journey physically,
but I haven't done anything to like permanently modify my appearance.
So occasionally I will like go right back to kind
of sort of how I looked when I was young,
which is nice and it's cute to like, h see.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
That's a good way to think of you know what
I mean. I do go back to a certain version
of ourselves at some point.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, I think you doo, Yeah, And I did kind
of this year. I went through a couple weird like
trends and weird things, and I get a freaky thing
after I finish a job. I don't want to look
like whatever character that was it. Really, I won't have
it with this one because I was in really specific
makeup in a wig every night and it was the
nineteen sixties. But like after Dynasty, I couldn't look at
myself with blonde hair, and after Victorious, I couldn't look
at myself with black hair. Like it's like, I just
(15:38):
want to like shed the character for myself, not from
the universe. Everyone can love it forever. But yeah, I was.
I was a kiddo for sure. I always felt old though,
and I always looked in the mirror and it was
almost like Freaky Friday, where I was like, how do
I look like a fifteen year old kid? And I
feel like a forty year old woman. This is so frustrating.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah, well you're also forced, I feel like, to mature
so quickly as you're literally like you're a child playing
an adult game.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
I guess. So I just was like, I was just
looking at myself, like, I guess I'll just wait it
out until I guess any more time in the oven,
because I don't agree with how I look right now.
I never wanted to look like a kid, I was like,
and I still don't. That would be weird if I
wanted to look like a fourteen year old now, but
you know, maybe mid twenties.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Okay, Well, let's talk about you going from commercials to
then auditioning for Broadway and getting onto thirteen. Such an
iconic cast of people that you were with, Yes, like
we've got you, Ali trim Ariana Grande, Max Graham Phillips,
you're now performing with again, Like, what was it like
being on thirteen during those years, like what was that experience?
(16:52):
Or sorry those months?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Right?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Thirteen was a sure? How long was thirteen? It was
like four months.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
We opened during the recession and it closed pretty cool.
I think after one hundred performances, I've now I've actually
now done more performances of Little Shop than I did
of thirteen, which is really interesting. I mean it was fun.
I got that audition, and I had been auditioning for
some Broadway stuff, but I went in there and I
really kind of like put my head down, and I mean,
you know, Ari describes that experience of like how she's like,
(17:17):
she claims, I like didn't talk to anyone, and I
was like in a corner, like determined, but I was
I really didn't. I was kind of like, I need
to book this job. I'm not here to make friends,
as to say on reality shows. And then of course
I made lifelong friends once I booked it. But it
was crazy. We did the reading together and then we
did the off Broadway running Connecticut, and then we did
the Broadway show, so we were with it for it
(17:39):
was it was truncated amount of time, but it felt
like a long journey. And now the show is sort
of taken on a life of its own. It's become
really popular in colleges and high schools, and maybe not colleges,
they're probably too old, right, Yeah, high schools, middle schools, preschool.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Like, there's been a lot of reenactments of it.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh yeah, they do them. Yeah yeah, And they made
a movie of it on Netflix, which is different but
came out.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
What was it like going from being in commercials and
like child acting like kind of in your town and
then all of a sudden being on Broadway and performing
it felt correct.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I was like, this is what I wanted, this is
a this is a this is going pretty according to
timeline so far. And then I booked the Nickelodeon show
right after that, so I was like, good, good, good,
this is all. This is all working out. Check check check.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
So you were like, this is what I'm supposed to
be doing. Yeah, did you ever have moments of doubt?
Because I feel like the hardest part, Like when I
was talking to Ali, like the hardest thing for her was,
you know, she books thirteen and then it was kind
of like, well, what's next?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Sure, it's always what's next? They ask you, what's they
being like just people, especially people who aren't in the industry,
but even on red carpets and stuff too. The lolways
asks you what's next, like when it's your like first
week on the job, or like when your movie's coming out,
and you're like, I don't know, I'm just here and
I'm happy to be here right now. I've learned to
be a little more selective because I noticed that every
time I have signed on to a project and it's
(18:54):
been a lucky thing, like it'll go for a lot,
it'll become a really big chunk of my life. And
this last one I just did was a really big
chunk of my life. It was like five years. And
I think after that job, after Dynasty, that was the
first and only time I was like, I don't know,
I don't know if I want to keep I don't
know if I want to I love this, but the
industry has also changed so much since the pandemic and
since the strike that and having just come off such
(19:18):
a sort of grueling schedule and show, I was like,
maybe I just want to like hang out and I
don't want to do this right now. Maybe I'll own
like a flower shop. Maybe this is not fulfilling in
the same way. But I would say this show brought
me back to loving it again and I can't imagine
not doing it now, and I can't imagine not doing
theater now for sure. But no, I never really had
(19:40):
time to totally. I had doubts. I mean like it
was all because I grew up physically. I did feel
like I was mentally kind of grown up. I probably wasn't,
but physically grew up on kids TV on Victoria's I
think that was the hardest thing. That's when I was like,
oh my god, I don't know if I can just
wait until we've arrived at the final form to like
do this because it's watching It was torturous for me
(20:02):
because I'm a perfectionist and I was like, I don't
want to see myself get pimples and gain weight and
lose weight and get me. It's like, you know, you're
like usually do that in the privacy of your hometown
in high school. But it's what I wanted. So I
was like, it's what you wanted, and it was good
that we that I did it.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, it is a really vulnerable time, like in your
at almost hate yourself.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I hate yourself hate yourself, and I just hated. I
hated how I looked. It was I really wanted to
look like Sharon Stone. I was like, I want to
look like a gorgeous forty year old film actress, or
like I want to look like Missus Robinson from from
the Graduate. Why do I look like this? I don't
understand why look like a child? And everyone's like, cause
you're young, it's weird. Like I literally like just morphe.
(20:44):
I was like, I feel like a like a middle aged,
like glamorous woman. Why don't I look like this is
driving me crazy? So that was weird, but I definitely
went through that weird.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah, yeah, you're like an old soul.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah. I didn't want to look like a cool, hot
twenty year old. I wanted to look like a sophisticated
middle aged woman.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I feel like, what was kind of nice then for
you with Jade is at least you talked them. Yeah,
you got to wear a little bit of a costume.
Like I can't imagine being like Victoria Justice just had
to be like herself right in a way way.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Vik is so hot and always was that like she
was the one to be doing that.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah that's true.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Yeah, Vic. I mean, Vic looked amazing and it was
so perfect for Torri and that whole thing. And no,
I was so lucky to have colors in my hair
and black hair and piercings and that was a huge help. Yeah,
it informed how I dressed a lot too, and how
I carried myself. But that was a huge help. Yeah,
I'm thankful for that. And I loved it. I loved
the vibe. Yeah, I still have a goth side of me,
(21:39):
for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I was gonna ask for sure.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Like the thing about Jade that was Jade was always
my favorite character in Victoria's Like You. The Jade character
was just so edgy and intimidating and like sweet but
also like had this.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Liked it though she's like a cat. Yes, I'm like similar, Yeah,
I was. It's funny I was with a cat. I'm
never with cat and I was with a cat last night.
My cousin is a cat, and I was like, this
is really it's like my personality and I'm such a
dog person. But maybe it's because I don't want to
confront the fact that I am a cat. But now, yeah,
I related a lot to Jade and I think her
(22:16):
she also rubbed off on me a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
So you and Ariana Grande were both on thirteen and
then you ended up landing Victorious together. How did the
Victorious audition come to be? And were you guys like
so excited when you both got the part.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, I was insane. We were all auditioning from thirteen.
They knew there were like a bunch of talented, multifaceted
performer children down the street, and they Viacom, which is
the company that owns you know, like MTV and Nicoloudon
and everything or did at the time. They were right
on the corner on the same street. So we were
all like running over there on our day off or
before the shows are on our lunch break to audition
(22:48):
all of us and Ari and I got a screen test,
which is just the wildest thing in the world. So
we both flew out with our moms to La to
screen test for this show together, and then we ultimately
booked it and it was just completely surreal. We shared
a dressing room at the time, so it was like
a total dream from true. I remember us booking it
and then going out there to live and shoot ultimately,
(23:10):
and then like taking a tour of the Hollywood Sign
and seeing the celebrity homes and just like it like
the corniest but most joyful thing you could ever imagine
it was. It was really cool but surreal to be
doing all that with your best friend. I mean it
was amazing. We lived together and no.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Not knowing how much like your life was going to
change post and during the show.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
No, I mean no, it's just amazing. We went and
sang outside of different celebrities houses like I don't know,
trying to get recked. I don't know what the point was.
It's just funny to think about now.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
It's so cute. At what point, Like how many years
was Victoria's on for?
Speaker 3 (23:45):
It was only on They maybe stretched it into four years,
but we only shot for three years. It was short,
but it was non stop.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
It's amazing to think how it was short, because it
felt like it took up such a big part of
like my childhood.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yeah, of course, so, and the reruns, I mean it
just lives forever, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, it's so good.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Those were like the og days of like Nickelodeon and Disney.
I mean obviously, like we're not watching those channels anymore.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
But I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
I don't even know if they can compete with the
shows that you got, like with Victorious and Hannah Montana, and.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
It was a different time. It was the perfect time,
and I think tonally it was like the jokes were
so good and the music was so incredible. It was
just allso good.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I asked on my Instagram story for anybody that had
questions to ask you, and one of the questions, well,
there's two of the most popular questions that came in
was what's your favorite j one liner?
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
One liner? Yeah? Yeah, I mean I always say, I mean,
for this interview, I'm going to have to go with
sweating as gross. So I don't do it just because
of the hypocrisy of it all. I'm going to go
with that one. As I sit here, I'm not sweating anymore.
I just want everyone to know that nine cameras okay, great.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
What was your favorite Victorious song that you had to sing?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
It was exciting for me to do the song that
I wrote for the show, which was you Don't Know Me.
I wrote it during season one and then it didn't
get used, and then towards the end they surprised me
and they wanted to use it, which was really cool.
So that was exciting. But take a hint, I think
maybe maybe one of the best songs in the show
and was one of the best moments. And I get
asked or people sing that at me, I think the most.
(25:17):
It gets sung at me a lot in my face,
almost like a gift or attack. I don't know which
one it is, but I accept it.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, there's just so many funny moments from Victoria's Like
when I was watching Oh My Gosh, Like in the
rerun that I was watching this morning, it's like the
kite thing where you like walk.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Into oh and I'm sad. I'm trying to hide that
I'm crying. Yeah, that was hard for me because I
really am not a crier at all. And then I
was like, Jade has to keep crying, and I was like,
I actually don't even know how to cry. I don't
cry unless I'm like flipping out maybe once a year.
But that was a fun one with her mess garage
dripping down her face. It's very cute. It's like a
classic sitcom. It was so well written and the cast
(25:52):
is so talented. It was just like everything was working
perfectly at the right time. It was like lightning in
a bottle. I think, yeah, how.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Do you feel like thirteen and being on Broadway and
kind of that fast paced environment set you up for victorious?
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Thanked you great, I was ready to go. I mean
the thing about the main thing, the thing that gets harder,
that it will be hard again when I go back
to film and TV after doing like this show, the
waiting around and the repetition. I think that's the hardest thing.
But the being ready, being professional, being able to perform live.
If you're able to do a two hour show live
(26:26):
and know all your lines and hit your marks perfectly
because you only get one shot at it, you're in
pretty good shape going into a film and TV set.
I think the stamina of being able to sit through
multiple takes or seven or eight hours of waiting on
end is the difficult part with film and TV in
my opinion. Also with theater, you get the opportunity to
do the show from beginning to end every night, so
(26:46):
you have the correct emotional journey. Where film and TV
the schedule's all mixed up. You might shoot the final, biggest,
most emotional scene in something on day one, and then
you know the next scene you shoot will be like
you wouldn't even you have met the person that you
just film dying in your arms a second before. It's
all out of order. So you have to be ready
to be flexible emotionally with that. But I love live
(27:09):
theater right now.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yeah, I was interviewing I think her name's Eliah Scott,
but anyway, she was saying that what she loves about
live theater versus on screen performances is that you.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Don't have to do a retake.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
You know, it's kind of like it is what it is,
and that one take and it's different every time.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
No, and that's the great thing. I mean. Now people
film it, which is such a bummer, and they never
film the ones you want them to film. That's what
I felt like. The bootleg stuff, Oh the bootleg with
Milo and I that's out.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I haven't seen it, well, ye don't.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
It's like it must have been like a week or
two in. I actually found out the date of it
because I think they caught the person who did it,
and I was like, I actually need to know what
date this was for a multitude of reasons. One, my
wig is literally it starts in the middle of my head.
I look like Denise what's the character of kristin wigg
where she's the little hand and she's one of the
sisters on Saturday Light. Well, if you look it up
and you look at the image of her, it's exactly
how I look in this bootleg. My wig starts in
(28:02):
the center of my head. I have a nine head,
maybe an eleven head, not a forehead. And the performance
in that bootleg, it just in no way resembles sort
of what I do every night, or where I landed.
It was. I was still figuring it out. But that's
the only thing. Like everyone wanting to film now and
put it online and then, but that's the reality. What
can you do?
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Well, we even said it when we were filming the run,
But it's very different, like some one bootleg are run.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
When you no no, like when Jeremy was filming in
front of us, like versus when Jeremy was filming in
front of us with the extra camera versus the iPhone camera.
Like how you perform to something close up, it's very
different than how you perform to it far away.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
I don't even know what my legs are gonna look
like in the far one. I mean they're probably tangled,
like I probably was. I mean I literally was only
I was like, she can probably see this, so I
was like this yeah, and the rest of my body
God even knows no.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
And I have a lot of people message me saying
like can you post all like all of your videos
as like horizontal videos on YouTube. I get a lot
of people asking, and I'm like, we've tried, but it
is that and like we can. But it's very different
when you're performing for something up close to your face versus.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Far away and just issu went' athletic. They're different things.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Of course I had to learn on Dynasty. That was
a big thing for me. Like the wides were one thing,
and I would be really and I'm in these clothes
with these heels and my posture and everything like that,
and then when you get close, it's like you're focusing
on different things. It is an art and I would
have done it today had I known. But it's okay.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
It is an art.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
I also feel like acting on screen and like on
stage it's so vulnerable, like you have to be so
comfortable with yourself.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, I guess you gotta let it all go. You
gotta let it There's a lot of smoke and mirrors
you can do with filming like for TV, and but
no stage is just like you're just out there.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
What do you mean smoking mirrors?
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Like, oh, I mean you can you're being lit a
certain way. They can, they can create illusions to make
you look taller, shorter, thinner or this or that. But
I mean theater, you're just You're just a body on
a stage, usually in a bit of overhead lighting. So yeah,
it's very raw, it's very real. It's cool. I love it.
I just love it.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
We talked a little bit about like watching yourself grow
up on Victorious. I'm curious because a lot lot of
people always talk about like Disney stars, Nickelodeon stars, and
just being a child star in general on how that
comes with like a lot of public scrutiny for the
first time and like the pressure to act a certain way.
I always think about like the Kid's Choice Awards, you know,
like did you feel like when you were playing Jade
(30:15):
on Victoria's that like publicly you had to act a
certain way and be.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Like kids are still disappointed sometimes when I when I
don't like yell at them, like or if I'm wearing
pink or I look to like it's kind of a
bummer for them. I've noticed it's more exciting when I
am and I'll make an effort if I know where
I'm going and what's going on. I lean into that
a little more because I get it, like, if you
have a character, you love them, they come and they're
totally different. I don't really care how you are as
(30:40):
a person. I want you to be like the person
that I knew and grew up loving. So I totally
get that. As far as scrutiny or like having to
act a certain way, I think I got lucky with
the character that I played because she wasn't really like
America's sweetheart, and she also was a bit acerbic and
different and offbeat, and I don't I think actually it
was a blessing. It never boxed me into having to
(31:00):
be like have a cookie cutter personality or be overly
careful when I did interviews or anything like that, because, uh,
I don't know, people weren't coming for me in that
specific way. They weren't expecting me to be like the
girl next door.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Like.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I think the pressures were different on Like Victoria than
they would have been she was also the lead. But
then on me someone who's playing Jade, because it's like,
you know, Jade's like yelling at everyone and cutting everything
up and punching things and wearing all black and making
jokes with severe innuendo. I mean, I left Nickelodeon and
I went to do a show on effects called sex
and Drugs and Rock and Roll, and it was fine.
My fans are like, this is cool. Like I immediately
(31:37):
went and did that and it was totally fine. So
I didn't have that same I don't even know what
the word is. I don't want to say box. I
don't want to say your story.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
It's like type casting in a way, like I.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Mean, I got typed as in a different way, Like
I don't think for years no one would ever see me.
I don't think they still would as like the girl
like store. They want me to be like the the
mean friend or like the strong you know, bossy lead
that hasn't gone away. But I like those roles, so
it's it's okay with me. I like playing strong, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
You do play you play a lot of like strong
Bolds characters, which I love. Yeah, there are worse boxes
to be boxing, right, I mean, that's like a fun
category portray. Was there like a you know, friendly competitiveness between.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Disney Channel stars and Nickelodeon stars.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I don't think I ever saw them. We really didn't
didn't really mingle that much. No, I don't think. So
they say we're different, Maybe we are. I don't know now.
I don't know what the worlds are like now. I
mean I got along with Milo. He was my last
co star on Mila Manheim and he's a big Disney
star and we got along just fine. We're from different generations, yeah,
(32:49):
but I don't know what the I don't know what
the the stigma is or what the rumors are. But
maybe we're different. I don't know. The nick kids I
always like the because we're cool, and the Disney kids
were more like But I don't think that's true. Look
through some Disney girls.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
They're cool, but I mean are so cool.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
I'm cool.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I saw her at La Lla Pluza and I was like,
she is a rock star.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Her microphone.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
She was very cool and I love all her vintage
Bob Mackie, Oh my god, it's just spectacular.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
How did being on a major network like Nickelodeon shape
you today?
Speaker 3 (33:32):
The experience was, I mean being kind of like a
fixture of people's childhood. I think changed my life and
shaped who I am today and that I wouldn't have otherwise.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Ben.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
But other than that, it's just a job. I don't know. Yeah, no, yes,
I know. I mean, I'm very proud to have been
a part of that era of Nickelodeon, and I know
some people aren't, and I know there's a lot of
chatter around it, but it was a really magical time
for for Ustin, for my cast, and not to speak
for everybody, and and like we were saying, that era
(34:06):
of kids television was magical and funny. And I don't again,
I don't know how it is now. I don't have
any kids, and I don't I'm not around children, so
I don't watch it. I don't know it's on there now.
Maybe it's still amazing, but it's definitely really special when
I was there, and I'm lucky to have been around
for that era.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Yeah, and you were on a really special, like cool show.
I agree. Like the way you described it is.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
No parents used to be like, well, I don't I'm
not my kids aren't allowed to watch the show. I
was like, oh wow, I love that.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Let's talk about the fact that you you're married to
music producer Michael Corkran.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Is that your do? Is that your new last name
didoin yo? Know, am I saying it right?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Corkrand Yeah, Corkrand like Quirkrande real estate, no relation, right.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
So while you're on Victorious, you and Michael meet.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Well, yeah, it was yes. I met him on Victorious
and then after the show ended, we I really wanted
to date him, and I was, I was, I I
just I just fell in love with him and we
started dating. I guess in like twenty thirteen around there,
(35:03):
and then I was just blown away. At that time.
I had been acting at that point since I was
maybe ten, and I had nothing in common with anybody
any boy my age, nor could I sit near them
or talk to them, because I just even the lovely
guys on the show they were like my family, and
I just never I just had no luck. I had
(35:26):
no luck falling for anybody within the realm of my age.
And I was so blown away by Michael's talent, which
has always been the big driver for me, even with friends.
I'm just so blown away by talent. And I had
never kind of met anybody as musically talented as he was,
and he and I became friends after Victoria's ended, and
(35:47):
then we started dating and we've been together ever since.
And yeah, he's one of the most, if not the
most musically talented person I know. And yeah, and incredibly
kind and good and I'm very lucky. I'm feel lucky
to have found love that early. And yeah, we have
a very beautiful life and I feel lucky about that.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
It's so cute.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
And he Michael is the song one of the songwriters
behind so many iconic nicolas, all.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
The big theme songs really, I think from that time,
like the I Carly theme song, he co wrote on
the Victorious theme song, Drake and Josh theme song he
wrote I think with Drake a bunch of them. He
scored all the shows too. Yeah, Yeah, it's impressive. It's
amazing and people really love on that music.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, and like I think too, like what you said
earlier is it makes so much sense that and we
kind of alluded to this at the beginning of the interview,
but like you had to grow up so fast.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Like and you were playing an adult role as a kid.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
I was on my third apartment at that time, Like
I need someone who like has a home and has
like a career, and like can I can? I couldn't.
And it's just it's just the way the chips fell.
I know what I want, and I knew that. I
didn't know that I would fall in love with him.
I thought maybe it was just a fun challenge. I
was like, this will be this would be a good
(37:08):
story one day, and then I fell in love with
him and I was like, oh God. And then we've
adopted four hundred animals together, and now that we fully
have a life together, obviously is my husband and we've
been together for a very long time, and yeah, I
feel very lucky. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, And also like I you know, I mean, you
saw Jeremy and I were on the run together earlier.
I think like collaborating with your partner, even like before
you start dating, is such a good sign of like
something that could potentially work out as a long term partnership. Yeah.
For context, foreverybody listening. You guys have like a twenty
year age gap, right.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Yeah, twenty one years, and I get daily. I mean
it's it's just a nightmare on online with people weighing
in and the funniest thing about the whole thing. Oh
it's terrible. I mean I read something. We been together
a long time, I know, but that doesn't make it better.
They think I read the funniest thing that came up,
and I'm really good at avoiding all of it. But
like anything I say, like I'll say this whole interview today,
(38:02):
and then they'll put like, what's the sad Billie Eilish song,
the one that's like like, they'll put that behind and
they'll be like, she doesn't even realize what she's saying
his brain. I'm like, no, I'm just happily married. It's okay.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
It happens, and you guys collaborate a decent face together.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
We did.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
I like what you've said though.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
About like you're very intentional with when you work together
and where you don't.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Yeah, so like let's talk a little musicians.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
I mean, I think, like any two creative people and
any two musicians, you have to pick and choose, you
know what I mean, Like when you work together, if
it's worth it, if it's going to be a fighting situation.
Because we're both very strong willed, and we're both very
opinionated when it comes to music, and he's usually right.
But I sometimes just like a taste thing and if
it's not worth like what could ultimately be a fight,
I don't want to do it. Like on Dynasty, they
(38:47):
wanted me to sing early on and it got a
little I was like, well, let me let my husband
do the track and let me do the vocals. I
caught my own vocals and record myself for everything, and
you know, he was big in helping me learn how
to do all of that. I think it's great for
any woman in the music industry or who does anything
with music and their voice to be able to record
and camp their own vocals. And he did, like all
(39:08):
the songs for Dynasty with me. He did the tracks
and he mixed them. And it's great to just you know,
have the cast come over our home and do it
there and know we're a good team. And yeah, it's
very nice having somebody that's skilled and talented around. It's
a big help, just like you guys work together. I mean,
to be able to do it all in house is
a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, And to be able to work with somebody that's
going to tell you how it is like without sugarcoating
it at all, is.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
You know, such a gift.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and just like it's cool that you're
able to work with somebody that speaks the language.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Oh he does. I mean we're not as we don't
even know. We'll be will My favorite thing is we'll
be out somewhere and they'll be like a chord he
knows I love, or that I like, come on and
the speaker of something, and I'll just go like that
and it'd be like, that's the five, you love the five,
or that's the two, because he knows all the music
theory stuff that I don't know, and yeah, I think
the shorthand of that. And having extensive said to someone
the other day I make I don't think if anything happened,
(40:02):
I don't think I could ever be with anyone who
didn't have the like deep extensive musical knowledge that Michael has.
I think I'd lose my mind. It's just something that
matters to me. So anyway, Yeah, it's so cool.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
How like music and acting is something that like you
love both.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
Like I do equally. I do. I love them equally.
Sometimes I'll be mad at one and I'll go to
the other one, But no, I love them both so much.
I can't I can't pick. Really.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
When you were leaving Victorious, like when the show ended,
we talked a little bit about how you have to
be resilient in this industry. Did you ever have moments
where Victorious ended and you were like, what do I
want to go into next? Because I know you went.
You did a horror film and then you did a comedy, a.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
Lifetime movie called Killing Daddy.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Yeah, very different, like to go horror and then comedy.
So like, did you have a moment where you were like, well,
what should I do?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
You think Killing Daddy is a comedy? In many ways?
Speaker 1 (40:54):
It was? Was it?
Speaker 3 (40:55):
No?
Speaker 1 (40:56):
No, there was a horror and then there was a comedy.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
No.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
I did a horror movie called Animal. You don't need
to know these are not big projects. It's but your
research is impressive. And then I did a Lifetime movie
called Killing Daddy, which it brands itself as a psychological thriller.
I think it's a comedy and it's like a camp
like in the same vein as Mommy Dearest, if you've
ever seen that, for my performance isn't as good anyway,
She's saying.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Daddy, Psycho, do you think this is a comedy?
Speaker 2 (41:18):
No?
Speaker 3 (41:18):
I love it. I love that you did, because you
in a way You're right. No, yeah, I was like, well,
I was just like, because I don't gonna hire me.
I got very I got very nervous after Victorious because
it's almost like you yeah Victorious when it ended, Yeah, eighteen,
So yeah, it was like eighteen or nineteen maybe nineteen mmm,
I don't remember. It was one of one or the other.
(41:40):
And I was like, oh God, I go, will people
not hire me now because they only see me as
like a kid actor And it was freaking me out
because I'd been warned. But then I booked the FCS show,
And ironically I booked the FCS show because even though
it was an adult show where I was playing like
a young rocker daughter to Dennis Leary, this you know,
comedian's famous comedian, one of the producers kids had seen
(42:01):
me on Victorious, and Dennis was like, Oh, how funny
would it be to Castro Nickelodeon on this racy adult
TV show? And that's why I got cast I think,
And also I was right for the part. But that
was a great example of it working in my favor,
and I'm really grateful for that. But then I did CW,
which is like the logical next step after Nickelodeon. So
I went kind of like.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
And then pretty quickly like you were twenty three when
you booked Dynasty, right and you started acting in that
for the first time. So nineteen to twenty three, that's
pretty fat.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
No, none even that I did. I did second drugs
when I was twenty. I don't even think it was
a year, That's what I'm saying, Like I cry, like, oh,
I'll never work again, and then yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
No.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
My biggest and longest gap, even though it was sort
of an intentional gap, was probably after Dynasty, which was
recent the last two or three years. But I did
a lot of I learned to drive again. In that
time I stopped driving, So I did a lot of
like life things that I was like wanting you, Like,
you're thirty, why don't you learn to drive a car again.
That's like reconnect with your friends and like, you know,
(42:54):
plant a garden and calm down for a minute. And
I did and it was good.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Yeah. I mean, you have to like Dynasty.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
I was watching an interview that you did where you
were saying that you never knew going into it. How
many seasons Dynasty would ever know.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
You always sign on for six no matter what, but
like they don't go for six, they usually go for
like two, and that one went for five, which is amazing.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
How many years five years? Five years?
Speaker 3 (43:17):
Yeah, nine ten months out of the year.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
And you filmed like one hundred plus episode.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
It was a lot. And by the way, how lucky
am I to be able to have that kind of
consistent work and success. I'm not taking that for granted.
It was just a lot. It was just a lot.
It was like, you know, I missed like every possible
life event in that time just because I was working,
which is what I wanted to do. So again, I'm
not like a victim. It was a blessing and a
(43:41):
gift to have a job like that. It was just
I wanted to take time after that job to have
a bit of normal life because it was so time
consuming in like a in a different kind of way
because theaters like two hours. They don't care where you
come from or where you're going next. You just have
to go do your job for two hours and then
good luck. I kind of love that.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
How do you keep going though?
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Like what, like what is the trick to like stamina
in that situation because it's like, yeah, when you're filming
for five years, I love people, I really did.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
I love the people I worked with on that show.
The clothes I kept me going a little bit. They
were really good, and I learned a lot about fashion
on that show. And I made really great relationships which
I've carried with me. But no, it's like you're in
the trenches with these people and you get close to them.
I got really close with hair and makeup, really close
with my cast, you know, you just the writers. You know,
it's like you have to be able to laugh. I
(44:31):
think you just have to be able to laugh and
and uh, find ways to distress something I was not
very good on at during that show. Once my husband
moved there and my dogs and everything, and I got
married and then we moved there. It all happened during
that time. That was a huge help because being able
to come home and like he'd always have like it's
a small thing, but he'd always have a candle lit
for me, which is like I want to walk in
and smell. I'm very into like candles and smells. And so.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
What were your methods to like chilling out, you know,
going home with the dogs, candle it hanging out with
your husband, like.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Ye, what else?
Speaker 3 (45:08):
I would get a massage on to try to get
a massage once a week, just like so I couldn't
be on my phone and so I could busy, be
like quiet and relaxed a little bit. And I don't
really know. I really wasn't good at it, to be honest,
I didn't. I carried the job with me every single day,
and I acted like a producer on it, even though
I definitely wasn't. I was too involved and I was
too obsessed with it. But that's how I get with projects.
(45:30):
I go all in. I want to like help promote it.
I want to do that on my Instagram. I make
these like tasks and promises for myself and to myself
that aren't really required of me. But I go all
out when I'm passionate about something, and when I have
my name on something, I want it to be a success.
So anything I can do, you'll do.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Let's talk a little bit about Little Shop of Horrors,
because yes, yeah, you have been doing it since February.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
It feels like it's gone so quickly.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
What has it been like being back on Broadway, being
back with Graham Phillips, who was one of your co
stars on thirteen, Like, what has this journey been like
for you?
Speaker 3 (46:05):
It's been amazing. It's been so much more fulfilling than
I ever could have anticipated. I knew that it would
be a challenge. I knew that it would be very
hard for me in the beginning vocally, and it's continued
to be hard for me, and now actually I'm finally
coming to a point where it's much less difficult for me,
which is amazing. I've gotten kind of like my sea
legs back, or my vocal muscles back or whatever. But
(46:28):
more than that, what it's done for me mentally and emotionally,
I think I never could have I never could have guessed.
It's really been probably the most meaningful project I've ever
worked on, just because of where it came in my life,
and like the timing of the whole thing, and also
just what it was. I've wanted to play this role,
(46:49):
and I wanted to be in the show since I
was a kid. So the fact that it happened when
I was sort of like done with everything and I
didn't want to act anymore. So taking on this challenge
at this kind of point in my life and bringing
me back and then it also having it be my
dream role of so long has been amazing, and I
grew so much closer to the people I'm working with
than I ever thought I could have. I mean, I
(47:10):
love everybody at at that show so much. It's such
a special place, and we've had so much fun. And yeah,
my family and all my friends close to me are
just like, it's so nice to see you this happening
and having so much fun. Because I think it was
like a big part of what I wanted to do
forever was musical theater, and you sort of get busy
doing other things, and so when you're back doing like
(47:31):
the true thing that made you fall in love with
that that the only thing I've really been trained for
is musical theater. Like everything else, I sort of guessed
and figured it out, but I only took like musical
theater classes and improv classes weirdly growing up. So this
has just been it's been the most fulfilling thing in
the entire world. It's been amazing. It's life changing.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
I love when actors go back to their roots and
you know, start performing on Broadway again.
Speaker 3 (47:54):
I think you get called back like it's like before
you're they're like, wait, before you stop doing this, we're
going to send you to those one And then it's
like this opportunity presented itself and I was like, oh, yeah, okay,
I'm not done at all, not at all.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Right, It's amazing you go from Dynasty to grinding filming
those episodes to then being like I need to take
a little bit of time off, and then you're right
back in like the hot seat on Broadway.
Speaker 3 (48:14):
I can do this grind. Yeah, this grind is like
maybe because it's a different grind too. Yeah, this is
a good grind for me right now. And again, I
love the live of it all.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
Do you think you'll stay?
Speaker 2 (48:22):
I mean, I know you're going to take a little
bit of time off once the show, once you're part
on the show ends.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Do you think you'll go back to live theater though?
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Like? Are there? So?
Speaker 3 (48:31):
I'm dying too, I'd love to. I would do it
as soon as like Faller Winter maybe because I always
say I want to take a big break, and then
four days in. I don't know how you are, but
I'm like, okay, I'm ready to work again. I need
to do something. I'm either're in work mode or I'm
in not work mode, and they're both like perma mode.
So it's like I say, I want to take a break,
but it only means like because now I'm back into
like my working obsessed headspace. Maybe two weeks.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Well, thank you so much for being with me to
hear it today, for having me. Yes, do you a
couple final shout outs? So little Shop of Horrors, Little
Shop of Horrors.
Speaker 3 (49:04):
I'm only in it, yeah, until July twenty seventh, so
that's really soon. It's two weeks away, the day after
my birthday, which is also symbolic and crazy, and so
that's the next thing. And then I have a couple
other little things that I can't talk about yet, but
that's that's the main thing right now. I'm just wrapping
up this project and we'll see what comes next.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Let's give one final piece of advice, kind of reflecting
on everything we just talked about, but knowing what you
know now, what would you tell your younger self?
Speaker 3 (49:34):
I would say, as well as you think you know yourself,
when you're at a certain point in your life and
you're like, I know for certain I'm never going to
go do this thing again, or I'm done, or you
can surprise yourself. You're never too old to surprise yourself
and to fall back in love with something, or to
challenge yourself. And you're never really done. When you think
you're done. There's usually many more levels to go. So
(49:57):
I would say, keep pushing, keep persevering, keep moving, just
keep moving. Yeah, say you tied it in. That's why
you have this show.
Speaker 1 (50:07):
It's so true.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
It is true though you probably have one more mile
in you. Right when you think you're done, you probably
do well.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
It's also just like, I feel like movement translates so
much more than just physical And obviously it's fun to
start with physical movement because it's like I did feel like.
Speaker 3 (50:20):
I had taken like an adderall or something. When I
sat down, I felt very clear and hyper. It's probably
why I talked so much.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
Yeah, it's so nice. It's like instead of having a drink,
you can just go for a run.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
Yeah, honestly, Yeah, maybe I'll start doing that when it
cools down.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
One thing that I want to ask you before we
wrap is because you and Arianna are such good friends
and you guys have both gone on to lead these
incredible careers. Do you two ever look back and reflect
and say like, oh my god, I can't believe, like
this is where we've come.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
We do it all the time, we actually really do.
We're big reminiscences and we are constantly checking in on
each other, but also like checking in on where we
are and where we started and how surreal it all is.
And I will always send her things to to just
be like, do you understand that you're nominated for an Oscar?
(51:10):
I mean things like that. It's just unbelievable. It's wonderful.
It's very cool that we've gotten to share so many
of these milestone moments together. And yeah, we're proud of
each other. It's great to have a friend that you
grow with, they to grow with and to go on
this journey with. Yeah. Yeah, definitely that's a wrap.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
Thank you, Thank you, thank you so much for listening
to today's episode with Liz. If you guys are enjoying
Post Run High, please be sure to follow us on
socials at Post Run High and me at Kate Max
and also leave us a five star review. Your support
helps us continue bringing you inspiring conversations. All right, I'll
(51:49):
see you guys next week
Welcome back to Post Run High.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Today's guest is someone I have been so excited to
sit down with, actress and singer Liz Gillies. You might
know Liz from her breakout role on Victorious as Jade
or from her unforgettable performance on Dynasty. Liz has always
stood out to me for her wit, honesty, and the
way she brings so much depth and dimension into every
role she takes on. In this conversation, you're going to
(00:27):
hear a side of Liz that fans don't always get
to see. We talked about her early life and what
first drew her into performing, her journey navigating Hollywood, and
the lesson she's learned along the way. Liz is thoughtful, hilarious,
and so refreshingly open. So I just know you're gonna
love this one before we jump in. I love hearing
your ideas for the show, so please follow me on
(00:49):
Instagram at Kate Max and send me a DM with
your dream guest pics for Post Run High. All right,
let's get into today's episode with Liz Gillies.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Elizabeth Gillies, Welcome to Post Run High.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I feel like I have a post run High and
I'm sweating, which is freaking me out.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Okay, you were just telling me a little bit about
the lore behind you don't sweat.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, I really don't until today as a person. And
then there was a whole thing because my character on
Victoria's Jade famously said that she doesn't sweat, that sweating
is gross, so she doesn't do it. And I've kind
of lived by that like my whole life, and I
really don't do kind of I don't exert myself that much.
I don't anyway. I think the combination today of the
corduroy hat I'm wearing that does match the chair, the
(01:42):
humidity outside, the high temperatures, and then the jogging and
sometimes sprinting accidentally that we did outside, You've taken me there.
So I'm sitting here sweating in an interview, which makes
me I'm humbled. Let's just say that.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
No, I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
You did incredible on the run.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
We ran about them through Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Every time I say the word Brooklyn, I don't know why,
but I like tongue twister it Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
But I actually did a pretty good job there.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You can't say Brooklyn. Isn't that weird Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
It's like such a weird word.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
You say, Dumbo, Dumbo. It's easy.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, we ran a couple of miles through Dumbo. Yeah,
a mile.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
It was pretty, it was pretty by the water. It
was a good it was a good call to go
that way.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
But I find it so funny that you say you
don't sweat, because I would imagine when you're running around
on stage.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
With the full face of makeup, like, yeah, do you
sweat that or no?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
No, Audrey is not like a princess track because she
does have a lot going on in the show. But
I always I get breaks, so it's like, I'll go
my character the name is Audrey that I'm playing in
the show, a little shop of frs right now, and
I get breaks, So it's like a Seymour. The lead
character gets no breaks. He's almost never off stage. So
that's a sweaty roll for sure. But no, I try
(02:49):
not to and I generally don't. I'm really shocked right now.
Do I look really gross?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
No?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
You look great.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Maybe I look glowy, which never happens because I like
to matten my face down like a corpse. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
First Sweaty Podcast, yeast Sweaty interview, and last I hope.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
But I'm happy to be here with you, and I'm
proud of myself and us, proud of you for being
able to look at me like this, and proud of
me for not leaving.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
You look incredible at Let's talk about movement in your
life outside of performing and outside.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Of me making you run. Okay, Like, what does movement look.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Like for you? I love taking a good walk, I
love hiking. I've done the Have you heard of the Ranch?
I've done the Ranch twice. No, it's basically a hiking retreat.
I did it in Malibu and I did it in
Hudson Valley in New York. And you hike for about
four hours a day, quite difficult terrain, and you cut
caffeine and sugar and everything. And it's a retreat for
anywhere from like I think three to seven days or
(03:40):
something like that.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So I usually do the short one with random people.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Oh, yes, with random people. I always. I brought my
mom the first time, my friend Raphael the second time,
which was funny. But no, you're supposed to do it
with random people and get to know them because it's
intense and you're like tortured. But it's also luxurious and fantastic,
so that's very interesting. But movement wise, I'm I'm a
very hyper person and I'm very into errands, and I'm
(04:03):
into a lot of housework. And it's funny because I
have an ORR ring and it recognizes when I do housework.
But the calories I'll burn and the steps I'll get
in like sometimes thirty thousand steps doing housework, which is amazing.
But no, I mean I'm dodging around the question, which
is I don't work out. I don't run unless it's
like someone's like can you can you do you think
you can run faster than me that I'm like, yeah,
I can, and I'll sprint and then I'll hurt myself
or like my husband, I got a rowing machine and
(04:24):
I went down and saw like his score or whatever,
and then I beat it, but then I was injured
for three days. So that's kind of my relationship with
working out. It's all rooted in competitiveness and challenges and
challenging myself and not health. Does that make sense, Yeah, no,
it does.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I get the competitiveness. I mean I feel like to
bad competitive.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
No, it's being competitive is always a good thing in
my mind.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I mean some people take it a little bit too far.
I hate that.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I can't like the people that take being competitive in
board games too far.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Is I know some people like that. It can be fun,
but it's it's it's crazy. Yeah, my dad.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Gets a little too competitive with board games and I've
had to not play with.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
The board games with the Grande. That's an intense thing,
but it's very cool. It's an honor. Oh what Arianna's
family is famously they're incredibly competitive and into board games.
They even didn't One of her Saturday Life sketches was
based off of that sort of a little bit. And
and yeah, I've played with them a few times and
it's always very memorable. They're they're incredible. But I know
(05:22):
what you mean.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
What board games?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Something for Neanderthals. That was the last one we played
Poetry for Neanderthals. I think it's very fun. I brought
it home to my family and then we all went
crazy playing it, So I think it's maybe the game.
But yeah, it was really funny. Really try it.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I love a good board game.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I really like Kaitan, but playing Gaiton with my family
sometimes gets Yeah, it takes it.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Everyone separates in the house after you play. Everyone needs
a private time to regroup, remember why you love each other.
I'm sorry, this is something I do, I'll majorly derail
the conversation. So I love this.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I love this.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I was saying that I don't work out. I'm not
self motivated, Like I won't just go down to the
gym because I know it'll help my overall health. That's
insane even or body like I was like, that's not
enough for me. But if I'm like, like I remember
I had to do I did this movie, uh the
remake or whatever the whatever of vacation and I had
to be in a bikini and they cast me like
(06:11):
two weeks before, and I remember I just took like
cardio bar or whatever the equivalent was back then every
day for two weeks. So that's a great example of
like I don't do anything, and then I do that,
and then I injure myself and then I stop doing
it for like six months. I go too hard.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, but you can't be one hundred percent all the
time with working out, Like I feel like it's best
when you go in waves like that, and like you
really go hard when you have to get ready for something, right, Like,
that's how I feel everybody's But I mean, I work
out a lot for my job, but like I used
to run all the time, Like before I started the
Running Interview show, I would run like six miles a day,
which is nuts.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
It just running help your mental a lot too, That's
what I'll say.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, Like I feel like it's it's more mental for
me than it is. HiT's so right now if it's
like if I want to get in shape for something,
like I have my wedding coming up in September, and
so I'm like, okay, as soon as it hits August,
like I'm going to start going to like toning classes.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
You know, perfect though you don't need to do I
know you feel a certain thy Yes, yeah, I'm just
like everybody says they were. I'll tell you what though,
I lost ten pounds before my wedding purely out of
stress because of all the things. It's like it becomes
i mean between like and mine was a tiny, little
pandemic wedding, but it's like the flowers and this and
the that, and then there was like a storm and
a power outage and maybe we won't have cater It
was just like there was so much going on, and
(07:19):
then we also drove an RV from Atlanta up to
New Jersey and with our dogs. So all that, I
think it'll just it'll just happen on its own. You
won't have to do that much at all.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I kind of wish ours was a small, pandemic wedding
at this point, and I'm like, it's too big.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
That's what happened to mine. The wedding got bigger than big.
If you're a Sex and the City fan, That's what happened.
And then I ended up having like a a Murnie
from Girl's wedding, which was like my dream. Did you
watch Girls?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I did watch Girls?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Remember her little farm wedding? Yeah, Flower Crowns.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yes. But I'm more of a Sex and the City
girl than I am a girl's girl, gotcha, But I
love girls.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
So you were having like Carrie's wedding at the public library.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I feel like that. I feel like that. I mean,
I just have a really big family.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I'm like it. My family's Italian and Irish and.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I'm mean too, because we're from New Jersey, doesn't they
only hop Yes? My dad's one of nine?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Oh wow? Yeah, So how many custins, do you up?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I infinite, I don't know, in the thirties or fist tons.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
So how many people ended up being at your wedding?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Ten total? Yeah, we had to. It was kind of
cool because our original wedding was gonna be over two
hundred because I wanted to invite on the ants and
the uncles, and you know you're gonna get people angry.
It's like, even if you don't want to invite someone,
that person gets mad. So everyone was coming. It was
going to be at the Saint Regis Atlanta. Couldn't have
been more different. And then it was at a farm
in New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
It was awesome and it was hot like it is today,
maybe hotter so like all my makeup was gone and
my hair was curly and frizzy by the first But
it was perfect and beautiful and wonderful and I wouldn't
trade it. And your wedding will beautiful too. September is good.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, Okay, Well, let's rewind a bit because I loved
finding out that you were from New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I did not know that until doing a little research.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Thank you for doing your research.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
And I grew up in New Jersey as well.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So two fellow Burn County Jersey girls absolutely down here today.
So I'd love for you to take us back and
just paint the picture a little bit about what your
life was like growing up in the early years in Jersey,
and then kind of how you broke into the industry.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
More about the same age, right, I'm thirty one. Oh
my god, I guess I'm gonna be thirty two. It's
silly next this month two weeks happy.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I think birthday?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Oh thanks, it was. I think it was the best,
one of the best times to be a kid in
my opinion. I think the nineties and early two thousands
were so much fun and it was a very different
time and it was awesome. I got to have a
totally normal childhood actually, which sounds like funny because I
didn't go to high school. But I mean I knew
a lot of kids that started acting when they were
babies and commercials and stuff, and I didn't leave school
(09:33):
and go, do you know, to start the journey with
the Broadway show. I ultimately did when I was fifteen
until high school. So I have all my same core
best friends from when I was five six years old
that I still hang out with. Now. I got to
go through all of you know, middle school, elementary school
with all of them, and I actually went to prom
like twice. I finagled it somehow, even when I was
on victorious. I just went. I tagged along with friends
(09:54):
or and it was wonderful and my parents were I'm
very I I wouldn't be I literally wouldn't exist because
of them. But I also wouldn't be anywhere in my
career without them, because my parents would leave work and
take me to auditions. My mom would drive me as
you pull me at school and drive me. I mean,
you know, I think so much of being able to
make it or being successful in this type of industry
(10:15):
where there's so much chance and auditions and appointments and
things that lead to nothing a lot of effort. It's
the parents saying Okay, I'm going to help you or not.
Because kids can't drive a car and there's only so
much they could do, which is why it's cool that
there's the Internet in this way now because they can
get seen in a different way or get scouted or
Back then you had to have someone go drive you
to like the local place where agents were in town
(10:37):
for like a day and then maybe you'd get an agent,
maybe you could do a commercial, which is what happened to.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Me, right, and like did your parents weren't in the industry, right.
I think the hardest part is figuring it out right
and like knowing even how to.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
I know, go to auditions. And I think because I
was like maybe forty minutes from the city, it's easier
than when you're like in the middle of America, or
you're or in middle America rather or you're far away
and it seems really unattainable. I saw it, and I
heard about it. I heard about kids being on Broadway
in my town, and to this day, that is like
the most impressive thing you can do. I've done TV,
I've done film. I've done so many episodes of television,
(11:09):
and it just doesn't matter. No one cares something about Broadway.
I meant, I'm off Broadway right now. But luckily people
just say it's They just say it's Broadway. But the
respect and the credit gets maybe because of the lore
of New Jersey and going into the city and it's
so close and people know what it looks like. It
is where Hollywood sort of feels abstract to them. So
everyone from my town has been coming out. It's been
(11:30):
very funny.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
No, I mean, I love Broadway.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I think there's something about live theater that is just
so impressive in the way that and we're going to
get to Little Shop of Horrors and you know your
schedule right now, but it's insane.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
It's like eight shows a week.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Actually, my episode with Ali Trim, who's currently playing glynd
on Broadway.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yes, well, Graham and I who we're in thirteen together.
He's my Seymore right now and Ali was Patrice and
we're all doing it right now. You're all day and
we're all old. No, that's what happens, you guys are
well we were thinking now we're all thirty one. Isn't
that funny?
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Mm hm yeah, you're adults. Yeah, but I still feel
like a kid.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
You do, I do sometimes? Yeah, I do feel like
a kid this show.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
This show.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I had a very youthful experience on this show. I
was like everyone around me was younger, especially the first
leg of my run, and I was doing a lot
of fun things and like living out my college years
that I never that I never had, So that was
that was really fun. That so goes with me I
just need like five minutes of that experience and I'm
back to my usual. Like I went to high school
for like five days and I was like, I love it,
I got it. What's next, Let's let's move on. So
(12:30):
but now I still feel young sometimes I feel young
when I'm doing theater because it's my first love and
I feel like, you know, i'd be stoked if kid
me saw me doing this now, so that's good.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Kid, you would be so impressed by everything you've done.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Now.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So when you were in those early.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Years, like what was it that your parents like, who
saw the spark in you first? You know, was it
you that saw it? And you were like, Mom and dad,
I really want to audition for things? Or did your
parents say, wait, she's really talented.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I think it's a combination. They definitely didn't come up
with the idea to like put me in anything other
than classes. I think they're like, oh, she loves to
dance and sing and be loud and obnoxious. We should
put her in acting and singing and dancing classes. But
it was me who was like, we're gonna take this
to the next level. I'd like to do this as
a profession. I'm gonna find a way at like maybe
at nine or ten, I started that trip and they're like, okay, weirdo.
(13:18):
So they they went with it and luckily nurtured it
and but no, I kind of I led the charge
on that one, but they were really I think, you know,
it helps they did see that I had an app
for that. I was kind of not horrible. Must be
hard when your kid love love, love something and they
are a bad at it and you know they're setting
themselves up for But there's failure in everything I've had.
(13:39):
I've experienced tons of failure. It's part of life. It's good. Yeah,
I mean it makes you tell me just a really
small part of it. Yeah, a lot that goes into it.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I think at what point, like how old were you
when you started out doing commercials, right, like that was
your first on screen thing.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, the Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile, it was one of
my first.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
And there was this other like little speaker thing and
I did like a print at for Age and m
that was really funny. I thought I was a model
for five minutes. I had a print. I was not
like many many things I was, but that I just was.
But I was like I walked in thinking it was
like America's accept model, and then it was like an
H and m ad for children, so like they only
put my scare on me, and I was like, shouldn't
I be balancing on one foot with like seaweed over
my chest and like a bird in my head? And
(14:16):
they're like, I think it's different kind of modeling lists
for people that look average.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
But so you do, guys.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
You don't know what I looked like when I was
a kid. I had buck teeth and it was a
different you know, It's like we've sorted out most of it,
but I don't. I don't identify as like a little
model kid. Like there's no chance.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I was watching reruns. I watched this, Like I literally
watched forty minutes of iconic Jade moments this morning. My God,
to prepare to get hyped, just get excited, you know,
because Victoria, it's just you were part of and again,
like we'll get to Victorious. But one of the things
that I was thinking about I was I was watching
you guys, is everybody was so cute.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Like I look back at.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Children, yeah, and like I look back at my high
school self, and I'm like that doesn't even look like
me now, but like you do look like yourself, you know,
I came back to it.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I I had many journeys. I had a journey physically,
but I haven't done anything to like permanently modify my appearance.
So occasionally I will like go right back to kind
of sort of how I looked when I was young,
which is nice and it's cute to like, h see.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
That's a good way to think of you know what
I mean. I do go back to a certain version
of ourselves at some point.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, I think you doo, Yeah, And I did kind
of this year. I went through a couple weird like
trends and weird things, and I get a freaky thing
after I finish a job. I don't want to look
like whatever character that was it. Really, I won't have
it with this one because I was in really specific
makeup in a wig every night and it was the
nineteen sixties. But like after Dynasty, I couldn't look at
myself with blonde hair, and after Victorious, I couldn't look
at myself with black hair. Like it's like, I just
(15:38):
want to like shed the character for myself, not from
the universe. Everyone can love it forever. But yeah, I was.
I was a kiddo for sure. I always felt old though,
and I always looked in the mirror and it was
almost like Freaky Friday, where I was like, how do
I look like a fifteen year old kid? And I
feel like a forty year old woman. This is so frustrating.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah, well you're also forced, I feel like, to mature
so quickly as you're literally like you're a child playing
an adult game.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
I guess. So I just was like, I was just
looking at myself, like, I guess I'll just wait it
out until I guess any more time in the oven,
because I don't agree with how I look right now.
I never wanted to look like a kid, I was like,
and I still don't. That would be weird if I
wanted to look like a fourteen year old now, but
you know, maybe mid twenties.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Okay, Well, let's talk about you going from commercials to
then auditioning for Broadway and getting onto thirteen. Such an
iconic cast of people that you were with, Yes, like
we've got you, Ali trim Ariana Grande, Max Graham Phillips,
you're now performing with again, Like, what was it like
being on thirteen during those years, like what was that experience?
(16:52):
Or sorry those months?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Right?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Thirteen was a sure? How long was thirteen? It was
like four months.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
We opened during the recession and it closed pretty cool.
I think after one hundred performances, I've now I've actually
now done more performances of Little Shop than I did
of thirteen, which is really interesting. I mean it was fun.
I got that audition, and I had been auditioning for
some Broadway stuff, but I went in there and I
really kind of like put my head down, and I mean,
you know, Ari describes that experience of like how she's like,
(17:17):
she claims, I like didn't talk to anyone, and I
was like in a corner, like determined, but I was
I really didn't. I was kind of like, I need
to book this job. I'm not here to make friends,
as to say on reality shows. And then of course
I made lifelong friends once I booked it. But it
was crazy. We did the reading together and then we
did the off Broadway running Connecticut, and then we did
the Broadway show, so we were with it for it
(17:39):
was it was truncated amount of time, but it felt
like a long journey. And now the show is sort
of taken on a life of its own. It's become
really popular in colleges and high schools, and maybe not colleges,
they're probably too old, right, Yeah, high schools, middle schools, preschool.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Like, there's been a lot of reenactments of it.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh yeah, they do them. Yeah yeah, And they made
a movie of it on Netflix, which is different but
came out.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
What was it like going from being in commercials and
like child acting like kind of in your town and
then all of a sudden being on Broadway and performing
it felt correct.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I was like, this is what I wanted, this is
a this is a this is going pretty according to
timeline so far. And then I booked the Nickelodeon show
right after that, so I was like, good, good, good,
this is all. This is all working out. Check check check.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
So you were like, this is what I'm supposed to
be doing. Yeah, did you ever have moments of doubt?
Because I feel like the hardest part, Like when I
was talking to Ali, like the hardest thing for her was,
you know, she books thirteen and then it was kind
of like, well, what's next?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Sure, it's always what's next? They ask you, what's they
being like just people, especially people who aren't in the industry,
but even on red carpets and stuff too. The lolways
asks you what's next, like when it's your like first
week on the job, or like when your movie's coming out,
and you're like, I don't know, I'm just here and
I'm happy to be here right now. I've learned to
be a little more selective because I noticed that every
time I have signed on to a project and it's
(18:54):
been a lucky thing, like it'll go for a lot,
it'll become a really big chunk of my life. And
this last one I just did was a really big
chunk of my life. It was like five years. And
I think after that job, after Dynasty, that was the
first and only time I was like, I don't know,
I don't know if I want to keep I don't
know if I want to I love this, but the
industry has also changed so much since the pandemic and
since the strike that and having just come off such
(19:18):
a sort of grueling schedule and show, I was like,
maybe I just want to like hang out and I
don't want to do this right now. Maybe I'll own
like a flower shop. Maybe this is not fulfilling in
the same way. But I would say this show brought
me back to loving it again and I can't imagine
not doing it now, and I can't imagine not doing
theater now for sure. But no, I never really had
(19:40):
time to totally. I had doubts. I mean like it
was all because I grew up physically. I did feel
like I was mentally kind of grown up. I probably wasn't,
but physically grew up on kids TV on Victoria's I
think that was the hardest thing. That's when I was like,
oh my god, I don't know if I can just
wait until we've arrived at the final form to like
do this because it's watching It was torturous for me
(20:02):
because I'm a perfectionist and I was like, I don't
want to see myself get pimples and gain weight and
lose weight and get me. It's like, you know, you're
like usually do that in the privacy of your hometown
in high school. But it's what I wanted. So I
was like, it's what you wanted, and it was good
that we that I did it.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, it is a really vulnerable time, like in your
at almost hate yourself.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I hate yourself hate yourself, and I just hated. I
hated how I looked. It was I really wanted to
look like Sharon Stone. I was like, I want to
look like a gorgeous forty year old film actress, or
like I want to look like Missus Robinson from from
the Graduate. Why do I look like this? I don't
understand why look like a child? And everyone's like, cause
you're young, it's weird. Like I literally like just morphe.
(20:44):
I was like, I feel like a like a middle aged,
like glamorous woman. Why don't I look like this is
driving me crazy? So that was weird, but I definitely
went through that weird.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yeah, yeah, you're like an old soul.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah. I didn't want to look like a cool, hot
twenty year old. I wanted to look like a sophisticated
middle aged woman.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I feel like, what was kind of nice then for
you with Jade is at least you talked them. Yeah,
you got to wear a little bit of a costume.
Like I can't imagine being like Victoria Justice just had
to be like herself right in a way way.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Vik is so hot and always was that like she
was the one to be doing that.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yeah that's true.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Yeah, Vic. I mean, Vic looked amazing and it was
so perfect for Torri and that whole thing. And no,
I was so lucky to have colors in my hair
and black hair and piercings and that was a huge help. Yeah,
it informed how I dressed a lot too, and how
I carried myself. But that was a huge help. Yeah,
I'm thankful for that. And I loved it. I loved
the vibe. Yeah, I still have a goth side of me,
(21:39):
for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I was gonna ask for sure.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Like the thing about Jade that was Jade was always
my favorite character in Victoria's Like You. The Jade character
was just so edgy and intimidating and like sweet but
also like had this.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Liked it though she's like a cat. Yes, I'm like similar, Yeah,
I was. It's funny I was with a cat. I'm
never with cat and I was with a cat last night.
My cousin is a cat, and I was like, this
is really it's like my personality and I'm such a
dog person. But maybe it's because I don't want to
confront the fact that I am a cat. But now, yeah,
I related a lot to Jade and I think her
(22:16):
she also rubbed off on me a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
So you and Ariana Grande were both on thirteen and
then you ended up landing Victorious together. How did the
Victorious audition come to be? And were you guys like
so excited when you both got the part.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, I was insane. We were all auditioning from thirteen.
They knew there were like a bunch of talented, multifaceted
performer children down the street, and they Viacom, which is
the company that owns you know, like MTV and Nicoloudon
and everything or did at the time. They were right
on the corner on the same street. So we were
all like running over there on our day off or
before the shows are on our lunch break to audition
(22:48):
all of us and Ari and I got a screen test,
which is just the wildest thing in the world. So
we both flew out with our moms to La to
screen test for this show together, and then we ultimately
booked it and it was just completely surreal. We shared
a dressing room at the time, so it was like
a total dream from true. I remember us booking it
and then going out there to live and shoot ultimately,
(23:10):
and then like taking a tour of the Hollywood Sign
and seeing the celebrity homes and just like it like
the corniest but most joyful thing you could ever imagine
it was. It was really cool but surreal to be
doing all that with your best friend. I mean it
was amazing. We lived together and no.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Not knowing how much like your life was going to
change post and during the show.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
No, I mean no, it's just amazing. We went and
sang outside of different celebrities houses like I don't know,
trying to get recked. I don't know what the point was.
It's just funny to think about now.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
It's so cute. At what point, Like how many years
was Victoria's on for?
Speaker 3 (23:45):
It was only on They maybe stretched it into four years,
but we only shot for three years. It was short,
but it was non stop.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
It's amazing to think how it was short, because it
felt like it took up such a big part of
like my childhood.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yeah, of course, so, and the reruns, I mean it
just lives forever, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, it's so good.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Those were like the og days of like Nickelodeon and Disney.
I mean obviously, like we're not watching those channels anymore.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
But I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
I don't even know if they can compete with the
shows that you got, like with Victorious and Hannah Montana, and.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
It was a different time. It was the perfect time,
and I think tonally it was like the jokes were
so good and the music was so incredible. It was
just allso good.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I asked on my Instagram story for anybody that had
questions to ask you, and one of the questions, well,
there's two of the most popular questions that came in
was what's your favorite j one liner?
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
One liner? Yeah? Yeah, I mean I always say, I mean,
for this interview, I'm going to have to go with
sweating as gross. So I don't do it just because
of the hypocrisy of it all. I'm going to go
with that one. As I sit here, I'm not sweating anymore.
I just want everyone to know that nine cameras okay, great.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
What was your favorite Victorious song that you had to sing?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
It was exciting for me to do the song that
I wrote for the show, which was you Don't Know Me.
I wrote it during season one and then it didn't
get used, and then towards the end they surprised me
and they wanted to use it, which was really cool.
So that was exciting. But take a hint, I think
maybe maybe one of the best songs in the show
and was one of the best moments. And I get
asked or people sing that at me, I think the most.
(25:17):
It gets sung at me a lot in my face,
almost like a gift or attack. I don't know which
one it is, but I accept it.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, there's just so many funny moments from Victoria's Like
when I was watching Oh My Gosh, Like in the
rerun that I was watching this morning, it's like the
kite thing where you like walk.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Into oh and I'm sad. I'm trying to hide that
I'm crying. Yeah, that was hard for me because I
really am not a crier at all. And then I
was like, Jade has to keep crying, and I was like,
I actually don't even know how to cry. I don't
cry unless I'm like flipping out maybe once a year.
But that was a fun one with her mess garage
dripping down her face. It's very cute. It's like a
classic sitcom. It was so well written and the cast
(25:52):
is so talented. It was just like everything was working
perfectly at the right time. It was like lightning in
a bottle. I think, yeah, how.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Do you feel like thirteen and being on Broadway and
kind of that fast paced environment set you up for victorious?
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Thanked you great, I was ready to go. I mean
the thing about the main thing, the thing that gets harder,
that it will be hard again when I go back
to film and TV after doing like this show, the
waiting around and the repetition. I think that's the hardest thing.
But the being ready, being professional, being able to perform live.
If you're able to do a two hour show live
(26:26):
and know all your lines and hit your marks perfectly
because you only get one shot at it, you're in
pretty good shape going into a film and TV set.
I think the stamina of being able to sit through
multiple takes or seven or eight hours of waiting on
end is the difficult part with film and TV in
my opinion. Also with theater, you get the opportunity to
do the show from beginning to end every night, so
(26:46):
you have the correct emotional journey. Where film and TV
the schedule's all mixed up. You might shoot the final, biggest,
most emotional scene in something on day one, and then
you know the next scene you shoot will be like
you wouldn't even you have met the person that you
just film dying in your arms a second before. It's
all out of order. So you have to be ready
to be flexible emotionally with that. But I love live
(27:09):
theater right now.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yeah, I was interviewing I think her name's Eliah Scott,
but anyway, she was saying that what she loves about
live theater versus on screen performances is that you.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Don't have to do a retake.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
You know, it's kind of like it is what it is,
and that one take and it's different every time.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
No, and that's the great thing. I mean. Now people
film it, which is such a bummer, and they never
film the ones you want them to film. That's what
I felt like. The bootleg stuff, Oh the bootleg with
Milo and I that's out.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I haven't seen it, well, ye don't.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
It's like it must have been like a week or
two in. I actually found out the date of it
because I think they caught the person who did it,
and I was like, I actually need to know what
date this was for a multitude of reasons. One, my
wig is literally it starts in the middle of my head.
I look like Denise what's the character of kristin wigg
where she's the little hand and she's one of the
sisters on Saturday Light. Well, if you look it up
and you look at the image of her, it's exactly
how I look in this bootleg. My wig starts in
(28:02):
the center of my head. I have a nine head,
maybe an eleven head, not a forehead. And the performance
in that bootleg, it just in no way resembles sort
of what I do every night, or where I landed.
It was. I was still figuring it out. But that's
the only thing. Like everyone wanting to film now and
put it online and then, but that's the reality. What
can you do?
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Well, we even said it when we were filming the run,
But it's very different, like some one bootleg are run.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
When you no no, like when Jeremy was filming in
front of us, like versus when Jeremy was filming in
front of us with the extra camera versus the iPhone camera.
Like how you perform to something close up, it's very
different than how you perform to it far away.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
I don't even know what my legs are gonna look
like in the far one. I mean they're probably tangled,
like I probably was. I mean I literally was only
I was like, she can probably see this, so I
was like this yeah, and the rest of my body
God even knows no.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
And I have a lot of people message me saying
like can you post all like all of your videos
as like horizontal videos on YouTube. I get a lot
of people asking, and I'm like, we've tried, but it
is that and like we can. But it's very different
when you're performing for something up close to your face versus.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Far away and just issu went' athletic. They're different things.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Of course I had to learn on Dynasty. That was
a big thing for me. Like the wides were one thing,
and I would be really and I'm in these clothes
with these heels and my posture and everything like that,
and then when you get close, it's like you're focusing
on different things. It is an art and I would
have done it today had I known. But it's okay.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
It is an art.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
I also feel like acting on screen and like on
stage it's so vulnerable, like you have to be so
comfortable with yourself.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, I guess you gotta let it all go. You
gotta let it There's a lot of smoke and mirrors
you can do with filming like for TV, and but
no stage is just like you're just out there.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
What do you mean smoking mirrors?
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Like, oh, I mean you can you're being lit a
certain way. They can, they can create illusions to make
you look taller, shorter, thinner or this or that. But
I mean theater, you're just You're just a body on
a stage, usually in a bit of overhead lighting. So yeah,
it's very raw, it's very real. It's cool. I love it.
I just love it.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
We talked a little bit about like watching yourself grow
up on Victorious. I'm curious because a lot lot of
people always talk about like Disney stars, Nickelodeon stars, and
just being a child star in general on how that
comes with like a lot of public scrutiny for the
first time and like the pressure to act a certain way.
I always think about like the Kid's Choice Awards, you know,
like did you feel like when you were playing Jade
(30:15):
on Victoria's that like publicly you had to act a
certain way and be.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Like kids are still disappointed sometimes when I when I
don't like yell at them, like or if I'm wearing
pink or I look to like it's kind of a
bummer for them. I've noticed it's more exciting when I
am and I'll make an effort if I know where
I'm going and what's going on. I lean into that
a little more because I get it, like, if you
have a character, you love them, they come and they're
totally different. I don't really care how you are as
(30:40):
a person. I want you to be like the person
that I knew and grew up loving. So I totally
get that. As far as scrutiny or like having to
act a certain way, I think I got lucky with
the character that I played because she wasn't really like
America's sweetheart, and she also was a bit acerbic and
different and offbeat, and I don't I think actually it
was a blessing. It never boxed me into having to
(31:00):
be like have a cookie cutter personality or be overly
careful when I did interviews or anything like that, because, uh,
I don't know, people weren't coming for me in that
specific way. They weren't expecting me to be like the
girl next door.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Like.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I think the pressures were different on Like Victoria than
they would have been she was also the lead. But
then on me someone who's playing Jade, because it's like,
you know, Jade's like yelling at everyone and cutting everything
up and punching things and wearing all black and making
jokes with severe innuendo. I mean, I left Nickelodeon and
I went to do a show on effects called sex
and Drugs and Rock and Roll, and it was fine.
My fans are like, this is cool. Like I immediately
(31:37):
went and did that and it was totally fine. So
I didn't have that same I don't even know what
the word is. I don't want to say box. I
don't want to say your story.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
It's like type casting in a way, like I.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Mean, I got typed as in a different way, Like
I don't think for years no one would ever see me.
I don't think they still would as like the girl
like store. They want me to be like the the
mean friend or like the strong you know, bossy lead
that hasn't gone away. But I like those roles, so
it's it's okay with me. I like playing strong, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
You do play you play a lot of like strong
Bolds characters, which I love. Yeah, there are worse boxes
to be boxing, right, I mean, that's like a fun
category portray. Was there like a you know, friendly competitiveness between.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Disney Channel stars and Nickelodeon stars.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I don't think I ever saw them. We really didn't
didn't really mingle that much. No, I don't think. So
they say we're different, Maybe we are. I don't know now.
I don't know what the worlds are like now. I
mean I got along with Milo. He was my last
co star on Mila Manheim and he's a big Disney
star and we got along just fine. We're from different generations, yeah,
(32:49):
but I don't know what the I don't know what
the the stigma is or what the rumors are. But
maybe we're different. I don't know. The nick kids I
always like the because we're cool, and the Disney kids
were more like But I don't think that's true. Look
through some Disney girls.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
They're cool, but I mean are so cool.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
I'm cool.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I saw her at La Lla Pluza and I was like,
she is a rock star.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Her microphone.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
She was very cool and I love all her vintage
Bob Mackie, Oh my god, it's just spectacular.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
How did being on a major network like Nickelodeon shape
you today?
Speaker 3 (33:32):
The experience was, I mean being kind of like a
fixture of people's childhood. I think changed my life and
shaped who I am today and that I wouldn't have otherwise.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Ben.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
But other than that, it's just a job. I don't know. Yeah, no, yes,
I know. I mean, I'm very proud to have been
a part of that era of Nickelodeon, and I know
some people aren't, and I know there's a lot of
chatter around it, but it was a really magical time
for for Ustin, for my cast, and not to speak
for everybody, and and like we were saying, that era
(34:06):
of kids television was magical and funny. And I don't again,
I don't know how it is now. I don't have
any kids, and I don't I'm not around children, so
I don't watch it. I don't know it's on there now.
Maybe it's still amazing, but it's definitely really special when
I was there, and I'm lucky to have been around
for that era.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Yeah, and you were on a really special, like cool show.
I agree. Like the way you described it is.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
No parents used to be like, well, I don't I'm
not my kids aren't allowed to watch the show. I
was like, oh wow, I love that.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Let's talk about the fact that you you're married to
music producer Michael Corkran.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Is that your do? Is that your new last name
didoin yo? Know, am I saying it right?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Corkrand Yeah, Corkrand like Quirkrande real estate, no relation, right.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
So while you're on Victorious, you and Michael meet.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Well, yeah, it was yes. I met him on Victorious
and then after the show ended, we I really wanted
to date him, and I was, I was, I I
just I just fell in love with him and we
started dating. I guess in like twenty thirteen around there,
(35:03):
and then I was just blown away. At that time.
I had been acting at that point since I was
maybe ten, and I had nothing in common with anybody
any boy my age, nor could I sit near them
or talk to them, because I just even the lovely
guys on the show they were like my family, and
I just never I just had no luck. I had
(35:26):
no luck falling for anybody within the realm of my age.
And I was so blown away by Michael's talent, which
has always been the big driver for me, even with friends.
I'm just so blown away by talent. And I had
never kind of met anybody as musically talented as he was,
and he and I became friends after Victoria's ended, and
(35:47):
then we started dating and we've been together ever since.
And yeah, he's one of the most, if not the
most musically talented person I know. And yeah, and incredibly
kind and good and I'm very lucky. I'm feel lucky
to have found love that early. And yeah, we have
a very beautiful life and I feel lucky about that.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
It's so cute.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
And he Michael is the song one of the songwriters
behind so many iconic nicolas, all.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
The big theme songs really, I think from that time,
like the I Carly theme song, he co wrote on
the Victorious theme song, Drake and Josh theme song he
wrote I think with Drake a bunch of them. He
scored all the shows too. Yeah, Yeah, it's impressive. It's
amazing and people really love on that music.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, and like I think too, like what you said
earlier is it makes so much sense that and we
kind of alluded to this at the beginning of the interview,
but like you had to grow up so fast.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Like and you were playing an adult role as a kid.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
I was on my third apartment at that time, Like
I need someone who like has a home and has
like a career, and like can I can? I couldn't.
And it's just it's just the way the chips fell.
I know what I want, and I knew that. I
didn't know that I would fall in love with him.
I thought maybe it was just a fun challenge. I
was like, this will be this would be a good
(37:08):
story one day, and then I fell in love with
him and I was like, oh God. And then we've
adopted four hundred animals together, and now that we fully
have a life together, obviously is my husband and we've
been together for a very long time, and yeah, I
feel very lucky. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, And also like I you know, I mean, you
saw Jeremy and I were on the run together earlier.
I think like collaborating with your partner, even like before
you start dating, is such a good sign of like
something that could potentially work out as a long term partnership. Yeah.
For context, foreverybody listening. You guys have like a twenty
year age gap, right.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Yeah, twenty one years, and I get daily. I mean
it's it's just a nightmare on online with people weighing
in and the funniest thing about the whole thing. Oh
it's terrible. I mean I read something. We been together
a long time, I know, but that doesn't make it better.
They think I read the funniest thing that came up,
and I'm really good at avoiding all of it. But
like anything I say, like I'll say this whole interview today,
(38:02):
and then they'll put like, what's the sad Billie Eilish song,
the one that's like like, they'll put that behind and
they'll be like, she doesn't even realize what she's saying
his brain. I'm like, no, I'm just happily married. It's okay.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
It happens, and you guys collaborate a decent face together.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
We did.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
I like what you've said though.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
About like you're very intentional with when you work together
and where you don't.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Yeah, so like let's talk a little musicians.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
I mean, I think, like any two creative people and
any two musicians, you have to pick and choose, you
know what I mean, Like when you work together, if
it's worth it, if it's going to be a fighting situation.
Because we're both very strong willed, and we're both very
opinionated when it comes to music, and he's usually right.
But I sometimes just like a taste thing and if
it's not worth like what could ultimately be a fight,
I don't want to do it. Like on Dynasty, they
(38:47):
wanted me to sing early on and it got a
little I was like, well, let me let my husband
do the track and let me do the vocals. I
caught my own vocals and record myself for everything, and
you know, he was big in helping me learn how
to do all of that. I think it's great for
any woman in the music industry or who does anything
with music and their voice to be able to record
and camp their own vocals. And he did, like all
(39:08):
the songs for Dynasty with me. He did the tracks
and he mixed them. And it's great to just you know,
have the cast come over our home and do it
there and know we're a good team. And yeah, it's
very nice having somebody that's skilled and talented around. It's
a big help, just like you guys work together. I mean,
to be able to do it all in house is
a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, And to be able to work with somebody that's
going to tell you how it is like without sugarcoating
it at all, is.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
You know, such a gift.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and just like it's cool that you're
able to work with somebody that speaks the language.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Oh he does. I mean we're not as we don't
even know. We'll be will My favorite thing is we'll
be out somewhere and they'll be like a chord he
knows I love, or that I like, come on and
the speaker of something, and I'll just go like that
and it'd be like, that's the five, you love the five,
or that's the two, because he knows all the music
theory stuff that I don't know, and yeah, I think
the shorthand of that. And having extensive said to someone
the other day I make I don't think if anything happened,
(40:02):
I don't think I could ever be with anyone who
didn't have the like deep extensive musical knowledge that Michael has.
I think I'd lose my mind. It's just something that
matters to me. So anyway, Yeah, it's so cool.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
How like music and acting is something that like you
love both.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
Like I do equally. I do. I love them equally.
Sometimes I'll be mad at one and I'll go to
the other one, But no, I love them both so much.
I can't I can't pick. Really.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
When you were leaving Victorious, like when the show ended,
we talked a little bit about how you have to
be resilient in this industry. Did you ever have moments
where Victorious ended and you were like, what do I
want to go into next? Because I know you went.
You did a horror film and then you did a comedy, a.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
Lifetime movie called Killing Daddy.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Yeah, very different, like to go horror and then comedy.
So like, did you have a moment where you were like, well,
what should I do?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
You think Killing Daddy is a comedy? In many ways?
Speaker 1 (40:54):
It was? Was it?
Speaker 3 (40:55):
No?
Speaker 1 (40:56):
No, there was a horror and then there was a comedy.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
No.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
I did a horror movie called Animal. You don't need
to know these are not big projects. It's but your
research is impressive. And then I did a Lifetime movie
called Killing Daddy, which it brands itself as a psychological thriller.
I think it's a comedy and it's like a camp
like in the same vein as Mommy Dearest, if you've
ever seen that, for my performance isn't as good anyway,
She's saying.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Daddy, Psycho, do you think this is a comedy?
Speaker 2 (41:18):
No?
Speaker 3 (41:18):
I love it. I love that you did, because you
in a way You're right. No, yeah, I was like, well,
I was just like, because I don't gonna hire me.
I got very I got very nervous after Victorious because
it's almost like you yeah Victorious when it ended, Yeah, eighteen,
So yeah, it was like eighteen or nineteen maybe nineteen mmm,
I don't remember. It was one of one or the other.
(41:40):
And I was like, oh God, I go, will people
not hire me now because they only see me as
like a kid actor And it was freaking me out
because I'd been warned. But then I booked the FCS show,
And ironically I booked the FCS show because even though
it was an adult show where I was playing like
a young rocker daughter to Dennis Leary, this you know,
comedian's famous comedian, one of the producers kids had seen
(42:01):
me on Victorious, and Dennis was like, Oh, how funny
would it be to Castro Nickelodeon on this racy adult
TV show? And that's why I got cast I think,
And also I was right for the part. But that
was a great example of it working in my favor,
and I'm really grateful for that. But then I did CW,
which is like the logical next step after Nickelodeon. So
I went kind of like.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
And then pretty quickly like you were twenty three when
you booked Dynasty, right and you started acting in that
for the first time. So nineteen to twenty three, that's
pretty fat.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
No, none even that I did. I did second drugs
when I was twenty. I don't even think it was
a year, That's what I'm saying, Like I cry, like, oh,
I'll never work again, and then yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
No.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
My biggest and longest gap, even though it was sort
of an intentional gap, was probably after Dynasty, which was
recent the last two or three years. But I did
a lot of I learned to drive again. In that
time I stopped driving, So I did a lot of
like life things that I was like wanting you, Like,
you're thirty, why don't you learn to drive a car again.
That's like reconnect with your friends and like, you know,
(42:54):
plant a garden and calm down for a minute. And
I did and it was good.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Yeah. I mean, you have to like Dynasty.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
I was watching an interview that you did where you
were saying that you never knew going into it. How
many seasons Dynasty would ever know.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
You always sign on for six no matter what, but
like they don't go for six, they usually go for
like two, and that one went for five, which is amazing.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
How many years five years? Five years?
Speaker 3 (43:17):
Yeah, nine ten months out of the year.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
And you filmed like one hundred plus episode.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
It was a lot. And by the way, how lucky
am I to be able to have that kind of
consistent work and success. I'm not taking that for granted.
It was just a lot. It was just a lot.
It was like, you know, I missed like every possible
life event in that time just because I was working,
which is what I wanted to do. So again, I'm
not like a victim. It was a blessing and a
(43:41):
gift to have a job like that. It was just
I wanted to take time after that job to have
a bit of normal life because it was so time
consuming in like a in a different kind of way
because theaters like two hours. They don't care where you
come from or where you're going next. You just have
to go do your job for two hours and then
good luck. I kind of love that.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
How do you keep going though?
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Like what, like what is the trick to like stamina
in that situation because it's like, yeah, when you're filming
for five years, I love people, I really did.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
I love the people I worked with on that show.
The clothes I kept me going a little bit. They
were really good, and I learned a lot about fashion
on that show. And I made really great relationships which
I've carried with me. But no, it's like you're in
the trenches with these people and you get close to them.
I got really close with hair and makeup, really close
with my cast, you know, you just the writers. You know,
it's like you have to be able to laugh. I
(44:31):
think you just have to be able to laugh and
and uh, find ways to distress something I was not
very good on at during that show. Once my husband
moved there and my dogs and everything, and I got
married and then we moved there. It all happened during
that time. That was a huge help because being able
to come home and like he'd always have like it's
a small thing, but he'd always have a candle lit
for me, which is like I want to walk in
and smell. I'm very into like candles and smells. And so.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
What were your methods to like chilling out, you know,
going home with the dogs, candle it hanging out with
your husband, like.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Ye, what else?
Speaker 3 (45:08):
I would get a massage on to try to get
a massage once a week, just like so I couldn't
be on my phone and so I could busy, be
like quiet and relaxed a little bit. And I don't
really know. I really wasn't good at it, to be honest,
I didn't. I carried the job with me every single day,
and I acted like a producer on it, even though
I definitely wasn't. I was too involved and I was
too obsessed with it. But that's how I get with projects.
(45:30):
I go all in. I want to like help promote it.
I want to do that on my Instagram. I make
these like tasks and promises for myself and to myself
that aren't really required of me. But I go all
out when I'm passionate about something, and when I have
my name on something, I want it to be a success.
So anything I can do, you'll do.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Let's talk a little bit about Little Shop of Horrors,
because yes, yeah, you have been doing it since February.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
It feels like it's gone so quickly.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
What has it been like being back on Broadway, being
back with Graham Phillips, who was one of your co
stars on thirteen, Like, what has this journey been like
for you?
Speaker 3 (46:05):
It's been amazing. It's been so much more fulfilling than
I ever could have anticipated. I knew that it would
be a challenge. I knew that it would be very
hard for me in the beginning vocally, and it's continued
to be hard for me, and now actually I'm finally
coming to a point where it's much less difficult for me,
which is amazing. I've gotten kind of like my sea
legs back, or my vocal muscles back or whatever. But
(46:28):
more than that, what it's done for me mentally and emotionally,
I think I never could have I never could have guessed.
It's really been probably the most meaningful project I've ever
worked on, just because of where it came in my life,
and like the timing of the whole thing, and also
just what it was. I've wanted to play this role,
(46:49):
and I wanted to be in the show since I
was a kid. So the fact that it happened when
I was sort of like done with everything and I
didn't want to act anymore. So taking on this challenge
at this kind of point in my life and bringing
me back and then it also having it be my
dream role of so long has been amazing, and I
grew so much closer to the people I'm working with
than I ever thought I could have. I mean, I
(47:10):
love everybody at at that show so much. It's such
a special place, and we've had so much fun. And yeah,
my family and all my friends close to me are
just like, it's so nice to see you this happening
and having so much fun. Because I think it was
like a big part of what I wanted to do
forever was musical theater, and you sort of get busy
doing other things, and so when you're back doing like
(47:31):
the true thing that made you fall in love with
that that the only thing I've really been trained for
is musical theater. Like everything else, I sort of guessed
and figured it out, but I only took like musical
theater classes and improv classes weirdly growing up. So this
has just been it's been the most fulfilling thing in
the entire world. It's been amazing. It's life changing.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
I love when actors go back to their roots and
you know, start performing on Broadway again.
Speaker 3 (47:54):
I think you get called back like it's like before
you're they're like, wait, before you stop doing this, we're
going to send you to those one And then it's
like this opportunity presented itself and I was like, oh, yeah, okay,
I'm not done at all, not at all.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Right, It's amazing you go from Dynasty to grinding filming
those episodes to then being like I need to take
a little bit of time off, and then you're right
back in like the hot seat on Broadway.
Speaker 3 (48:14):
I can do this grind. Yeah, this grind is like
maybe because it's a different grind too. Yeah, this is
a good grind for me right now. And again, I
love the live of it all.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
Do you think you'll stay?
Speaker 2 (48:22):
I mean, I know you're going to take a little
bit of time off once the show, once you're part
on the show ends.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Do you think you'll go back to live theater though?
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Like? Are there? So?
Speaker 3 (48:31):
I'm dying too, I'd love to. I would do it
as soon as like Faller Winter maybe because I always
say I want to take a big break, and then
four days in. I don't know how you are, but
I'm like, okay, I'm ready to work again. I need
to do something. I'm either're in work mode or I'm
in not work mode, and they're both like perma mode.
So it's like I say, I want to take a break,
but it only means like because now I'm back into
like my working obsessed headspace. Maybe two weeks.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Well, thank you so much for being with me to
hear it today, for having me. Yes, do you a
couple final shout outs? So little Shop of Horrors, Little
Shop of Horrors.
Speaker 3 (49:04):
I'm only in it, yeah, until July twenty seventh, so
that's really soon. It's two weeks away, the day after
my birthday, which is also symbolic and crazy, and so
that's the next thing. And then I have a couple
other little things that I can't talk about yet, but
that's that's the main thing right now. I'm just wrapping
up this project and we'll see what comes next.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Let's give one final piece of advice, kind of reflecting
on everything we just talked about, but knowing what you
know now, what would you tell your younger self?
Speaker 3 (49:34):
I would say, as well as you think you know yourself,
when you're at a certain point in your life and
you're like, I know for certain I'm never going to
go do this thing again, or I'm done, or you
can surprise yourself. You're never too old to surprise yourself
and to fall back in love with something, or to
challenge yourself. And you're never really done. When you think
you're done. There's usually many more levels to go. So
(49:57):
I would say, keep pushing, keep persevering, keep moving, just
keep moving. Yeah, say you tied it in. That's why
you have this show.
Speaker 1 (50:07):
It's so true.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
It is true though you probably have one more mile
in you. Right when you think you're done, you probably
do well.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
It's also just like, I feel like movement translates so
much more than just physical And obviously it's fun to
start with physical movement because it's like I did feel like.
Speaker 3 (50:20):
I had taken like an adderall or something. When I
sat down, I felt very clear and hyper. It's probably
why I talked so much.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
Yeah, it's so nice. It's like instead of having a drink,
you can just go for a run.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
Yeah, honestly, Yeah, maybe I'll start doing that when it
cools down.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
One thing that I want to ask you before we
wrap is because you and Arianna are such good friends
and you guys have both gone on to lead these
incredible careers. Do you two ever look back and reflect
and say like, oh my god, I can't believe, like
this is where we've come.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
We do it all the time, we actually really do.
We're big reminiscences and we are constantly checking in on
each other, but also like checking in on where we
are and where we started and how surreal it all is.
And I will always send her things to to just
be like, do you understand that you're nominated for an Oscar?
(51:10):
I mean things like that. It's just unbelievable. It's wonderful.
It's very cool that we've gotten to share so many
of these milestone moments together. And yeah, we're proud of
each other. It's great to have a friend that you
grow with, they to grow with and to go on
this journey with. Yeah. Yeah, definitely that's a wrap.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
Thank you, Thank you, thank you so much for listening
to today's episode with Liz. If you guys are enjoying
Post Run High, please be sure to follow us on
socials at Post Run High and me at Kate Max
and also leave us a five star review. Your support
helps us continue bringing you inspiring conversations. All right, I'll
(51:49):
see you guys next week
Host
Kate Mackz
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