July 8, 2026 • 61 mins
No stroll through early 2000’s pop culture is complete without the greatest Canadian import since maple syrup! From movies like Old School, Love Actually, The Girl Next Door and House of Wax, Danielle is hanging out with - Elisha Cuthbert!
Both of their first kissed may have played out on-screen, but Elisha’s real life lessons all came from “Popular Mechanics for Kids.”
Plus, Elisha explains how she was immune from being “boy crazy,” all on this week’s Teen Beat!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:18):
Cats buds. That's okayas no one here is.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome back to another episode of teen Beat. I'm Danielle Fischel,
host of not only this podcast, but of the nineteen
ninety seven Disney World Easter Parade. It was hot and
I wore a big hat, but now I wear many hats,
and this one has me sitting with interesting people who've
done interesting things every single week, tapping into their teenage
(00:50):
years to find the awkward and uncomfortable truths that connect
us as members of.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
The human race.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Because even if you were on TV as a kid,
like I was exposing every moment of your puberty to
millions of viewers looking back as a way to learn
more about who we've become today.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I look at it this way. I gave you my childhood.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
It's time we hear yours. This week, I'm talking to
a pivotal piece of what I'm calling the Canadian invasion
of Y two K. Whether it was Ryan Gosling breaking
out from the Mickey Mouse Club, or Nellie Furtado flying
like a bird, Hayden Christiansen being cast as a young
Anakin skywalker, or Avril Levine wearing a tie over a
(01:30):
tank top. The Great North really was quite great, and
the all out attack also included a Calgary born, Montreal
raised actress who first found the spotlight as the young
co host of Popular Mechanics for Kids, arguably the oddest
magazine to ever become children's programming unless there was a
(01:51):
good Housekeeping for tweens show that never hit the States.
She would stay in Canada for her first major role
in Air Speed alongside Joe Montaigna, and then the Gemini
Award winning Lucky Girl, leading her to Los Angeles in
two thousand and one, where her whole life changed when
she was cast as Kim Bauer, Keifer Sutherland's always in
peril daughter in the pop culture smash twenty four. She'd
(02:15):
also appear in classic movies like Old School and Love Actually,
and then supply the Internet with thousands of beautiful gifts
from the movie The Girl next Door. But it's her
time on wildly underappreciated projects that interests me most, like
one of TV's funniest modern day sitcoms, Happy Endings, and
the two thousand and five MTV generation remake of House
(02:37):
of Wax, which was much better than it ever should
have been. Now she's returned to our screens after a
four year hiatus where she focused on being a mom,
but now appearing as Sue Flork in the romantic drama
series Every Year After, currently available to stream in full
on Prime Video and today. As fellow members of the
Maxim FHM Complex magazine generation of Young Hollywood, we will
(03:02):
sit together and chat about what it was like to
grow up, both on.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
And off camera.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Because even though in twenty thirteen she was crowned TV's
most Beautiful Woman, I think deep down she must have
some teenage embarrassment to share. Welcome to teen Beat. The
most famous Canadian to never appear on an episode of
De Grassy High.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
It's Alicia Cuthbert. Hi.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, oh my gosh, that kind of made me want
to cry. You did that better than anyone I've ever
heard before.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I couldn't have given my career any better words than that.
I mean, that was that was the whole kit and kaboodle.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You know, sometimes it's just nice to hear all of
your incredible accomplishments.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Redbat to you.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I was getting a little teary eyed. They're like that,
but I was also laughing. I was like, this is
all very accurate. And it's touching my heart. So thank
you for that.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
You are so welcome. Thank you so much for joining
me here on teen Beat. I know I joked about
it at the end of your intro, but I do
need to know. How did you not end up on Degrassi.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I was just going to say, I mean, until you
just uttered those words. I realized that now I have
a little bit of a grudge, like, what the hell
happened that I didn't get to be on that show?
But you know, the director, Kit Hood, he he was
one of the bigger like creators of that show, and
I ended up he directed me in a film, a
(04:25):
feature film in Canada, So I guess I could say
I have a little connection, but not actually on the show,
but yeah, it was. It was a movie called Dancing
on the Moon. And you talk about embarrassment, I think
I had my first kiss on and it was on screen,
so I was so nervous.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And something else you can share. My first kiss was
on camera too. How old were you.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Want to say? I was fourteen? Okay, yeah, weird. I
can't picture him. I'd have to go back and look,
I can't picture like I can't. I was so petrified
and I was so out of my element that, like
you know when you have like a trauma experience and
you like walk it out like did that even happen?
(05:11):
Like I don't even know, but it's true, And I mean, yeah,
that was so what was your? Was yours? How scary?
It was so scary, wasn't it?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
It was scary.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
We had a live studio audience because it was on
a sitcom, so it was you know, live studio audience
and my grandparents and my parents. It was like everybody's watching.
And we didn't kiss through the week, so we didn't
rehearse the kiss, so like the actual first time kiss
kiss was in front of you know, hundreds of people
and on camera.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. No, we had and our we
had a crew, and it was so crazy. They they
it just ended up that it was scheduled for the
last scene of the night. And so I had just
stew on it like all night, all day and all
night like leading up to it, and I just I
had put it in my head like one I didn't
want to mess it up because I was like, I
(06:03):
don't know how to do this. So if like I
got to go in there, what if I like fumble
and like kisses nose or I don't.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Know, like I own my hands off.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Oh my god, what if our teak link? I was like,
I don't know what to do, but it ended up
happening and it was fine, and I was like, I
don't know why I made such a big deal of it,
but I yeah, it was very scary, but yeah, that's
it's so funny, like you put yourself in these situations
on set that you know because you're you're acting and
(06:35):
it's not real, but yet I mean, obviously you're a
part of it and it's.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Your physical body bringing it to life. So like it's
not a fake kiss. There may not be like sexual
tension behind it, but there's it's really happening.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It's really happening.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I want to go back to even earlier because I
know you started modeling at just seven years old, and
I want to know how did that come about? Because
I'm always interested in the moment you go from just
adorable child to adorable child model, Like were you discovered
in the Tim Horton's How did this?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
How did it happen?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
You know, it's so funny. My mom and dad would
get you know, pestered a lot, like when we were
out together when I was like a real infant, even
like I think my mom has a story you'd have
to tell, ask her, but like, I mean, there were
stories where people would come up and be like, oh,
you should put her inmaddling, And it was just I
think fate was sort of aligning this path for me
(07:34):
way earlier than I even understood. And then at one
point a family friend was a casting director but and
she had mentioned to my parents about maybe having me,
you know, just go and do some modeling stuff. And
so they finally relented and they were just like, Okay,
(07:56):
let's let's let's do this. And I mean, I was
so young, I didn't even and I just knew I
was having a good time. I didn't know that it
was like work per se. I just thought it was
really fun activity to do. But yeah, I would say that,
like I look back on it, and it is mysterious
in a way that like not my parents or anyone
else that was in my inner circle where ever pushing
(08:16):
it was just things were sort of coming into my
path in a way that I can't even explain. It is.
It is one of those mysterious things that I that
I still question and I go, well, obviously I'm on
the path that I should be on, and fate was
sort of leading me towards that.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So yeah, yeah, that's another thing we share very similar
story paper.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I feel that was going to happen everywhere we went.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
My parents were told, you should get her in you
need to get her in modeling, or you need to
get her in commercials.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
And it was and my parents were.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Like, we don't know anything about this, like none, no
one in our family did it. They were like, we
don't know how to do it. And then when that
wasn't working, a girl I went to school with got
an agent and she just told me about it and
I went home and then was like, I want an agent.
It was like the universe was like, all right, we'll
try all these different avenues until you land down the
path that you're gonna land.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And I think too, I think our personalities. I mean,
I was not a shy child. I was always interested
in speaking to people, like you know, I with my son,
particularly like you know, we work on like when we're
at a restaurant, like I try to encourage him to
order what he wants and not you know, kind of
step over that. And but of course he's he's timid,
and he's shy, he's little, and but you know, I
(09:30):
do recall being younger and having this sort of fearless personality.
I feel like I'm more shy now in my adulthood
than I was then. But I I agreed, right, And
I remember just being like ready to go to anybody
be like, hey, what's up totally? What's your story?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah? Tell me more? What's that? What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Yeah? How can I help you? Like? What what?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
You know?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I'll have the cheeseburger with the you know.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
My son's like, yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
I need to work on that too, because they both
my kids have when they're when they warm up, both
of them turn on these big personalities, but there's always
that moment where they have to decide, am I going
to do a dation a little?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So, like it's probably a smart idea right before you
walk into a place, to be like, let's practice what
we're going to do.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
We're going to walk into a restaurant, you're going to order, so.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Let's pretend I'm the waiter, you know, like even just
to give them a practice run at it right before
it happens. But that's really smart that you're encouraging that
because people's skills are a lost start.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
For well, they're turning into a lot of star people
learning how to communicate. Is is dying out slowly. I mean,
it's so strange to see. But yeah, we really do
try to encourage the kids to be as independent as possible,
and especially in those scenarios because you know, they have
to learn how to speak up for themselves at some point.
And I may not always be right there at his
(10:55):
side or her side because we have an eight year
old daughter as well, where you know, I can you know,
always like they can always fall back on. I want
them to, you know, have the skills to at least
order a.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Meal exactly, at least be able to say you'd like
a cheeseburger. You know, you've got to be able to
do that exactly. Let's chat popular mechanics for KOOO. You
posted seasons one through four and it was based on
a magazine and you covered topics like animals, the human body, amusement, parks, electricity.
(11:27):
Is there one lesson or something you learned from the show,
like maybe a fact or a topic that is still
weirdly with you.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
You know, it's funny, there are there's plenty, and it's weird.
How like throughout my life they've helped me because it
was almost like another mini education for four years that
was so intense, and like, I find myself way more
handy than I ever should have been as far as
(12:00):
like I mean, I'll give you an example, like our
toilet was running the other day and I just you know,
didn't even think twice, just lifted the lid, knew the
mechanics of it. Oh, the chain's off, the chain back bank,
toilet's working again, And I'm like, wait, how did I
just do that?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I don't hate that.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
It has to be something to do with all of
the mechanical education I had on that show. But we
also got to do some really cool things that no
one else had ever gotten to do. I mean, at
one point we were on invited onto an aircraft carrier
for three days and I mean just getting all the
(12:39):
information on how the whole craft ran, you know, getting
to be catapulted off the craft. I mean, I don't
think there was no other television crew up until that point.
I mean I don't know about now, but up until
that point when we were there. It was the first
TV crew to ever be invited to film on an
aircraft carrier. So it was super top secret and it
(13:00):
was super yeah exclusive, and it was a really cool thing.
So I remember like getting to like walk away from
those experiences and be like, there's no one else on
the planet that other than a military trained personnel person
would if that's what you call them.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yeah, yeah, that's the official title.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah that sounded official, but yeah, other than like people
that were trained to be there, you know. I was like,
I we are so special, We're so lucky, and yeah,
you learn like little things like you know, the the
flight takes off, like you go from zero to like
sixty and like two seconds to get catfolded off. That
(13:38):
it was like unbelievable. And yeah, so I mean in
the list goes on and on, I just yeah, as
far as like electricity goes and you know, hot air balloons.
We were up in hot air balloons. I rode an elephant.
I mean I got like I always say to my husband,
I'm like, sometimes I feel like when I go back
and people ask me about the show, I feel like
(13:58):
that Doseci guy on the Comer. I feel like the
most fascinating because every you know, the best thing that
came away from it is that no matter where I
am at any dinner party or any sort of event,
I can I feel like I can converse with almost
anybody on most topics. So it's it was a really yeah,
like really amazing experience to have.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
What a great work experience, Like, yeah, it sounds so fun.
Did you get to spend any of your popular mechanics
money did you have? Like what was the first thing
you treated yourself to as a kid.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
No, you know, I my parents helped me save it
all and I used it to uh move to Los
Angeles and get an apartment and you know, try to
make it in Hollywood. That's really where all that money.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Went, yeah, which is an expensive endeavor.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Yeah, it was. So I was like I was and
you probably know I was at the Oakwood apartment and
Boulevard right brothers. I was like feeling very uh you know,
old Hollywood in that way, and it was it was
and you know, Jay Bearishall also moved in there. Another
actor we know, Andrew Walker, he's also a good actor.
(15:15):
He was he was there at that every like they're
like generational groups of actors that sort of find themselves
at or if it's.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
It doesn't even exist anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
No, well there you go.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I know, I know it's it's a real time capsule.
But we we we talk about it on Podmeats World
all the time because it seems as though everyone lived
there at some point. Everyone had their friends, their crew
that lived there.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Uh. Yeah, it's it's quite it.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
It was. It was scary, but it was iconic, exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
It was both of those things at the same time.
Kind of like in general the teenage years. It's just
scary but iconic exactly. One thing I have to ask you,
because it's a pretty famous story that Hillary Clinton saw
one of your reports and reached out to you to
meet at the White House. Yes, did you steal anything
to take it home? Don't worry, I think the statute
(16:07):
of limitations has passed.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
But I'm dying to know. Do you have any sort
of memento from your time at the White House.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I was too I was too afraid to steal anything,
but I will say I will say that I got
to hold socks the cat. I don't know if you
remember they had a black piece, yes, And I don't
know if you're a cat person. But I remember seeing
the cat come down the famous corridor with the red
carpet and I was like, is that socks And they
were like, yeah, do you want to hold them? I'm
(16:35):
like yes. So I was like I got a chance to,
you know, hang out with the cat, which was great.
And you know, I ended up seeing Hillary Clinton again,
like twenty years after the fact, and I knew I
was going to see her because she was speaking at
an event that I was at, and I thought, well,
if there's a chance that I could, you know, maybe
(16:56):
run into her, I should keep this. I snagged up
photo that we took together from twenty years ago on
my phone and I ended up getting to speak with
her and I said, I have I met you at
the White House and it was so amazing and I'm
sure because she's met a million horns two people, and
so I showed her the photograph and she loved it.
(17:19):
She was like, look at my hair. I'm like, look
at my hair. We were just like laughing at the
fact that our hair was so hers hers was really short.
It was really cute. She said she looked great, but
we were totally laughing like old girlfriends about her hairstyles
and what we were wearing. She goes, I remember that
pink suit. I'm like, oh my gosh, I said, I
(17:39):
don't know why I was wearing a man's blazer, but
I guess that made me feel official. But we were
dying and it was so funny, and yeah, it was
a really cool thing. We got to go into all
the different rooms and that we met in the we
had a meeting in the mapping room together. And she
just she loved Popular Mechanics for Kids because at the
time she was involved in educational programming in the US
(18:02):
and she was trying to get every broadcast station to
at least have one or two educational programs for kids. Yeah,
and so when she saw that Canada was doing Popular
Maccancs for kids, she ended up getting it syndicated through
the States. And yeah, she really liked it. So it
was really cool.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
That is so cool.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, on a broader scale, what were you like as
a teen?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Were you boy crazy?
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Not? Really?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Yeah, I love that for you. I was. I wish
I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I wish I didn't waste so many years of my
life just being obsessed with boys. So I just, yeah,
I love that for you, Well, were you into.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
I think I was like an old soul.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
I always thought that it's funny because it's so the
opposite of how my personal life turned out. But I
always thought that I wouldn't get married and that I
wouldn't have kids. And I was like dad set on
being a professional and wanting to just be this like
I don't know, Meryl Street. I was so driven and
(19:13):
I had like the horse blinders on and I I mean,
I had a boyfriend in high school that I had
for many years and I didn't really yeah, I didn't.
I didn't really have any others. And then it was
but I was really focused on my career and yeah,
and it wasn't. And I was terrified about having children too.
(19:33):
I felt like there's I was scared to, you know,
be pregnant. I was scared to think that I could
be like a great mom because my mom was so amazing.
And I was like, wow, I'm such a working person.
I don't see how this fits into my life. Yeah,
but then you know, you meet the right person and
then those things become so clear, yeah, and so factual
(19:58):
and correct, and yeah, you can't imagine not doing it.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
So totally.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, so that all shifted for me. But for many, many, many,
many many years, it was just all work driven, which
is crazy, right, And yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I really do though.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I so appreciate that because it's the exact opposite of
how I was, and I wish I had been like
here I was from twelve to nineteen on boy meets World,
working and all I could think, thank you, And all
I could think was like, ugh, this career I have
is really taking me away from my purpose, which is
(20:35):
to get married and have children as soon as humanly possible.
And I think part of that was the fact that
my parents met at fifteen and got married at twenty one,
and so I just had in my mind that like,
that's what.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
I was going to do.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And then of course that's not at all how my
life turned out. But I spent all those years thinking
that I was failing because that wasn't what was happening.
And so yeah, like I just I'm so I loved
hearing that you spent all those years being like, I'm
just gonna focus on me.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
I was a cold hearted No, you had a long
term boyfriend.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It wasn't that you didn't have love in your life.
You just thought that was not what you were obsessed with.
You were like, I'm gonna develop my sense of self,
which I wish I had done more of in my
umber years.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah, it's funny. I feel like what you experienced, though,
is very natural and makes a whole lot of sense.
I was just always conflicted as to why I didn't
want any of those things, and I just thought, that's
so strange to like not be one of like my
girlfriends or even my sister. I remember my sister, like
when we used to play when we were kids, it
was like, oh, her dolls were her babies, and I
(21:44):
was like, oh, I.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Don't know, babies, ill not babies.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Ell.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
No, did you go to traditional school while you were
working as a kid or did you were you always homeschooled?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I went to traditional school, although my experience was so
ridiculous because I probably should have been homeschooled. I think
a lot of my last three four years of high
school were you know, in the trailer and with the
on set tutors and you know, the drill. I did
all my exams and yeah, like the trailers. It was
(22:22):
so weird. I mean I remember at one point, like,
you know, your attendance report card at the end, and
it was like, I think I missed like half the
school year. But I will say when I was home
and you know, I would get back from filming, it
would go I'd go, yeah, just like a normal kid,
I'd go straight to school and regular high school. Yeah.
(22:43):
It was you know, it was weird. I I always
felt like high school and elementary at the time because
I was filming, felt like such a burden, like it
was in my way right. I was like, this is
like it was always aggravating because here I was trying
to focus one hundred percent of my time and energy
into what I was filming, and then they'd have to
(23:04):
like rip me off set for two hours to study
math and English, and I'm like, I'm not gonna need
any of this. I want to learn English, and you know,
I yeah, I was like, I don't want to like
be in school. I have a job, Like, isn't the
whole point of going to school to train to do
something and I'm already doing it. So it always I
(23:24):
always had this like real bad tug of war with it,
and I couldn't wait for it to be over. And
then now again ironically I wish I would have had
like the college university experience and knew what that felt like.
I never got to really do any of that, And
I think i'd be a way better student now too,
(23:46):
because I you know, as you get older, you your mind,
you're quenched to like learn and take in new things
and experiences. And I know what I'd want to study,
and so it would be you know, at one point
during COVID, I almost try to do some online university classes,
and but then I was like, oh gosh, the kids,
and I was like, nah, maybe not, I'll just keep
(24:07):
drinking my wine.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
What would you want to study now?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I think I would like history, art history. I think
like Cornell had some really cool like women leaders in
business nice. I don't know there was some other topics,
but yeah, I think like there were so many. And
I was extremely dyslexic as a child, okay, and which
(24:33):
most artists, I think most artistic people can be. It's
not uncommon. But I really struggled and then but now
I've found a way to you know, ease my mind
work into it. I read so much now and so
studying and all that I think would come a lot
more naturally to me, so yeah, but I did end
(24:54):
up doing it.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Very similarly, I also did not enjoy or appreciate school when.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
I was I just it was. It felt annoying to me.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
It was not my favorite thing. I just wanted to
do the bare minimum I could do to still get by.
But then I did go to college at twenty seven.
I studied, and I knew I wanted to study psychology,
and I graduated and I loved it. So I think
you're right that you now that you have a you know,
a better understanding of what specifically you'd be looking for
(25:25):
to you know, you could take any classes you want.
You're not limited by like getting a specific type of degree.
You'd probably be an A plus student and would love it.
So I highly recommend just signing up even just one,
one little class, you know, class online.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Just like yeah, I dip my toe and your toe in.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
See what happens. If you end up loving it, you
can always do.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
More amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
When you look back.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Would you consider yourself to be a cool kid because
it seems like you'd be really cool.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
I don't know about cool, but I would say that
I really got along with everybody I wasn't in like
some mean girl clique or.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
I'd say it was like very much Canadian in the
sense that I was super neutral.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, everybody's great.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I Yeah, everyone's amazing. I would hang out with like
the goth kids. I would talk to, like the athletes
I liked, you know. But I did have my two
really best girlfriends. They were like my steadfast like we
were always thickest thieves together, Jan and Steph, and we
were just they were my people. And then but I
(26:49):
really got along with everybody and I so I would
say not so much popular, but I don't think anyone,
you know, I don't think anyone had a problem with me, right,
you know, you.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Weren't offensive to anyone.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I wasn't. I wasn't. But I wouldn't say I was
like the cool kid. I just think, Yeah, like I said,
I feel like, you know, neutral would be the best
way to describe it.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Totally get that. Are you still friends with Jen and Steph?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Steph? You know I haven't talked to Stephan a while,
but Jen, Yes, Jen, I I I'm still close with. Yeah.
It's uh that that those are friendships that you know,
you go through life and they're just with you for
so many years. Of it, and they've you know, they've
been there through such interesting times too, and you're like
(27:37):
adolescents when you're becoming an adult and going through those,
like you said, those awkward teenage years. You know, we
have so many funny stories and history together that you
just it's undeniable, like it no matter how much time
we have a part, or how much time goes without
a phone call. I know that when I do speak
to her, it's like we never left, and those are
(28:00):
like so special and really, yeah, you kind of cherish
those those friendships. It's because it's in your adulthood. It's
really hard to make friends like that because the history
is just not there.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Exactly yep, I know, And they're getting to know such
a I feel like friends you make now only get
to know one very specific briide of you, version of you. Yeah,
whereas you know, and this version of me is not
even the best version, not that it's a bad version,
but like there was a time before children where I
(28:33):
was more fun and I'm just not as fun now,
And so no offense to the new friends I have,
but you're not getting the most fun me.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
You're getting a very kind of structured now.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
When we want to be like the fun version of ourselves.
We pay for it totally, like there's no like I
remember after having our first I had I forget. It
was like, I don't know what we were doing, but
we had a night out and my parents were watching
our daughter and we got home at like, I don't know,
twelve thirty and I certainly had too much wine or
(29:06):
whatever it was, and I just wanted to, like, you know,
treat myself. I had finally finished breastfeeding. I was like, oo,
time to go. And that was the night my daughter
decided in the middle of the night to have a
flu throwing up. My head was pounding. It was like
they know they can sniff out when you're trying to
enjoy yourself exactly, you're just a little naughty. They just
(29:27):
know when you want to be a little naughty.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Totally. They're like, are you having fun without it?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
They're like, I'm gonna decide to get blue and you're
like really, or my teeths are going to start coming
in and I'm going to have a fever. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
It's always the way.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Oh they wait, They wait until you're in the worst
position ever.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
So I want to go back to when you moved
out to Hollywood, which I think was two thousand and one,
you were not even twenty one. Two thousand, okay, so
two thousand, you're not even twenty one years old. No,
did you come out by yourself? Were you super nervous?
Did you all like, did you know people?
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Now I didn't any This is a funny story actually,
so I didn't know anyone. Like I said, I had
a place at the Oakward Apartments, and I I'm not
even kidding you. When I landed, I get to the
apartment and I get through the door and I'm like, okay,
I'm going to like set up all my stuff. And
really the only possessions that I had were like my clothing,
(30:31):
my toiletries, and like twelve of my favorite DVDs. Because
now we're talking. Wait, all these people kids listening to this,
They're like, it's a DVD. Yes, I had DVDs, my
favorite DVDs, and I opened my suitcase and they're all gone.
So from the store loved, Yeah, from the time I
(30:51):
left Canada to the time I got someone you know,
in transit ended up opening my suitcase and stealing all
my DVDs. So all I had was clothing and toils.
I have to tell you I wasn't afraid to be
in LA. I was excited. I was really ready to
like do everything I could to make it and to
hopefully get a job there. But what I will say
(31:13):
is that the one thing I wasn't expecting was like
the loneliness. And I think, you know, not having DVDs
didn't help.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Nothing to watch.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
I mean that was that was like my fallback of
like I know it when I'm not like reading scripts
and going to auditions.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Mom's asked my favorite movies. Yeah, didn't even have that.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
But yeah, it was my first experience away. And you
know how hard it is in LA to like meet people,
You're either in your car. I'm sure your guests have
said this. It's like LA is not a very easy
place to just socialize. When you're in New York. You
walk down the street, there's bodies, there's people everywhere. Yes,
LA doesn't have that culture. So I just spent a
(32:00):
lot of time by myself for a good I want
to say, like gear, Yeah, pretty secluded and that was
there were Yeah, there were moments where I just I
didn't want to give up. I didn't It didn't propel
me to like want to leave or give up on it.
It was, but it was just a feeling that I
had to like settle into my self and my loneeness
(32:24):
and my comfortable just being comfortable with being by myself and.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Being just with me, and such a good lesson.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
But it's really interesting to confront because when you when
you grow up, you've got your siblings, and if you
don't have your siblings, you have your cousins, or you
have your parents are always there. You have your network
of friends that you go to school and see every day,
and then you're just like I was just picked right
up out of that whole situation and then just pluck
plunked myself down into an apartment with zero nothing, and
(32:55):
I went, whooh, you know, and I didn't have a boyfriend.
I didn't have It wasn't like I was like having
like phone conversations with a long distance board. I really
was very very alone. But it helped me focus on
the goals, which were, you know, getting out there and
succeeding and whatnot. So it wasn't totally bad, but wow,
(33:15):
that was an interesting time.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
So when in that process after moving to LA did
you read for twenty four.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Six months into that, Wow, six months into that, I
ended up.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
I had it.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
They don't do these things anymore, but or at least
I don't think they do unless they're bringing them back
and maybe you can tell me. But I had a
network deal, like an exclusive network deal with Fox when
I got there, so I was only allowed to audition
for Fox shows pilots, Okay, that didn't cross over into
the feature side of things, but it was exclusive for television,
(33:51):
so my auditioning was Back then, there was a ton
of stuff for men of every network, but you know,
Fox definitely had a lot of stuff going on. So
it wasn't like I was lacking in anything as far
as like auditions go, but I was only auditioning for them,
and I got close to a couple of things, and
then twenty four was but I was getting dangerously close
(34:12):
to like the end of my stay, okay, and I
remember being like, I don't know if this is going
to work out, I'm gonna have to go back to Canada,
I'm gonna have to go to college or you know.
I just I wasn't sure what was going to happen,
and I was really nervous about it. All, and I
ended up getting the twenty four pilot script, and it
(34:33):
was my last audition before I was the deal was
going to be up and I was going to be
heading back, so there was a lot on it. But
I also thought, you know, I took a crack at it,
and maybe if I can go back and work in
Canada and save up some more money, I'll have enough
to keep going and come back. But then I went
in and auditioned and I didn't hear anything for like
a week, and then I got a call saying, oh,
(34:56):
they want to read you again, and then they want
to read you again, and then so it was like
three four times I went in and then and then
I had a screen test with Kiefer and it was
like me and another girl, and I just thought, okay,
let's see what happens. And I just gave it my all.
And I thought, you know, I'm not gonna worry about it.
I'm gonna put stress on myself. I'm just gonna go. Really,
I'm gonna be really prepared ready to go. And I
(35:16):
went in and then I was driving driving home and
I thought to myself, well, I guess this is it.
And then as soon as I got into the apartment,
I had a voicemail and it was my agent going
turn back around. They want to do a wardrobe fitting.
You're filming on Monday.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I was like, oh my god. So I called my
parents and I was like, I guess I'm not coming
home on Wednesday. Wow.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Literally the lat like days away from you going home.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't. I mean from the time the
audition's process started with twenty four but by the time
I ended up getting it, I was literally three days
away from that was a Friday. They called me and
they were like, you got it. It's good, You're good,
and I'm You're gonna film on Monday, and I was
supposed to my flight home to cam it was on
the Wednesday, So I was cuttings. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
So I don't think they do that anymore, those exclusive
audition deals.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I don't think so, because I think the landscape is
so different now and we have so many streamings. Yeah,
it's so And even like the auditioning process, I don't
I can't even I went into I don't know if
you've been in one recently, but I went into one
audition like physically went in And now because we now
we put ourselves on like if something comes up and
they need a tape, you do it yourself. Now because
(36:28):
of after COVID, everything has changed. And but I did
get a call for a show recently, like I think
five months ago or something, and they were like, oh, no,
they're they're seeing people in person. And I went oh,
and I was like, oh, that's fine, and so I
prep it and I do everything, and then I got
in there and there was like all the producers and
then the camera. It had been so long, and I
(36:51):
just I mean, I've been doing you You've been doing this.
I've been doing this for decades, two decades, and I'm like,
all of a sudden, I reverted back to like it's
eleven years old. And I was like and I couldn't
even speak, and I was like and I said, to know,
I'm so sorry, I have to start again. I'm like, yeah,
I'm like, my hands are shaked. I'm like, why am
I shaking? This is very weird.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I have not been in an audition room in a
very long time. But I did have my first like
in person meeting, just you know, a non zoom meeting,
and it was it was the same thing. I was like,
you can see the lower half of my body. I'm
not used to that. I like, I don't know what
to do with my hands, And when there is a silence,
(37:35):
I felt like I had to immediately fill it.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
It was so it was so weird. I was like,
I don't know how to have meetings in person anymore.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Yeah, And it was so funny because I had this
like outer body experience, and that's sort of what like
stumped me a little bit because as soon as we
started getting into the scene, I like left my body
and I started seeing myself, like you said, trying to
fill the space. And I was like rushing through this
dialogue and I was like, this is not even how
I act. Like I don't even understand like what this
(38:03):
performance is that I'm trying to pull off. But I
was like I had to halt it. I was like,
oh no, no, I was just like this is so weird.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Sorry, let me start again. I'm going to take a breath.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
But I think it's just like another byproduct of that
COVID experience in that we've now all had to sort
of find ways to do what we do away from
human beings and then to get myself into a room
which used to be so normal to me feels so
(38:37):
foreign because we're just so not used to the process
with other human beings around, and that human connection it
changed the energy within me in such a way that
I was like taken aback and I thought, oh, I
got to work on that, because that's not me and
nor was it ever my experience before that. So I
just got so used to sort of, you know, curating
(39:00):
my own stuff, editing my own tapes, you know, doing
all those things. So it was really an eye opener.
But it's funny, I don't you know. We just did
shot this show in Vancouver, and I will say that
didn't feel any different, and filming didn't feel different, and
if anything, that's like my happy place. Yeah, but you know,
those audition spaces are very awkward because it's just a
(39:21):
weird room, an office. It's it's they're not they're not
like the real deal.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
YEP, I totally know exactly what you mean.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
It feels very and also if you are very performative,
you have you are literally there to perform, and yet
you also are supposed to be based in reality and grounded,
and so there's a there's like a real you where
you talk for a little bit first and then you
have to.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Do the performative you.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
For you know, it was so funny. We didn't even talk.
It was like okay, go and I was like, oh, oh,
we don't even get to like no, like, how's the
weather today?
Speaker 3 (39:54):
Nothing?
Speaker 1 (39:54):
No? Nothing? No?
Speaker 3 (39:56):
All right?
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
I know that when I watched TV, because you know,
we grew up in the business, I'm always wondering what
was the shoot like, And when watching twenty four I
remember constantly thinking, this seems very challenging. I am guessing
there were a lot of middle of the night shoots,
action scenes with stunts, intense continuity.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
There was a lot of running, too much running. If
you ask me what was shooting that show.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Like very intense. You nailed all the major points of
that experience. I would say continuity for sure. But we
had great continuity people, so that helped. I don't know
if you've ever been like on a quick film where
you're like also having to focus on continuity. It's really difficult.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
It is very difficult.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Yes, yeah, it's not great, but no, on that show,
they it was it was like a well oiled machine.
I will say so, I really only had to like
dial in and focus on what I needed to do,
but it was my stuff was very intense and trying
to not make that character Kim Bauer feel like, you know,
(41:22):
a burden in a way, you know, and and bring
as much realism to the ridiculous scenarios that she was
involved in. And I, you know, it's so funny. I
have a couple of young actresses that I know now
that are in that stage of their career where, you know,
you hit an age where you're too young to do
any of the younger stuff, but you're not old enough
(41:42):
to play you know, the wife, the you know or
the love interests, and you end up slotting yourself into
the daughter role. Like at some point, if you're starting
off as a child actor, you're gonna you're gonna end
up being the daughter role. Yep, maybe even more than once.
And the daughter role is really challenging because the daughter
(42:02):
role is a role that I can't really die because
it's it's too sacred. But at the same time, they
have to write you in and find ways to keep
your relevant. And you see that with a lot of
different shows. Although Landman is doing a great job with
you know, Ali latter's playing the amazing mom and her daughter,
(42:24):
and you know, the their writing is becoming really interesting.
But for a long time, I think that daughter role
always felt like the Kim Bauer. I was like, I
was like the epitome of the daughter role, right right,
It's a stereotypical daughter role. But yeah, it was. It
was intense. It was a lot of fun though. But
we did a lot of night shoots. We I remember,
I think for like, I don't know what it was
five months out of the year. I was sleeping during
(42:46):
the day, work being during the night. Yeah, it was
a lot.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Did you like being an action star?
Speaker 1 (42:52):
I did? Actually, I loved it. Yeah. I feel like
House of Wax. I got to do a bunch of
action too towards the end of the film, which is
I got to pull my experience from twenty four. Yeah.
Action is really is great. I love it.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
I want to talk about this era we grew up
into of the men's magazine. Oh yeah, every I mean
the teen idol publication transformed into basically bikini photoshoots with
matchups between us about who's hotter, which is super cool, brutal.
Did that kind of attention make you uncomfortable at the
(43:28):
time or did you just embrace it?
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Oh? I think I was pretty uncomfortable.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
Yeah, I never really understood it, and I also knew
that it was a beast of a thing that was
that was undeniable and unavoidable, correct, right, Like, I don't
think there was a time or space where you felt
like you could go to your publicism and be like,
absolutely not. I mean no, the viewership, the amount of
people that tuned into that kind of stuff, and the
(43:59):
volume in which the magazines were selling was beyond so
it was undeniable and you just felt like anytime, or
at least I did. I felt like anytime we were
going to promote something, whether it was twenty four Old
School or the Girl next Door especially, it was like
(44:20):
get her on the cover of yeh Men's magazine.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Yep, it was feel one of the highest I mean,
it was one of the most sought after promotional tools.
And that's how it was just sold to us that
it was promo. It was promo for your projects.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
I think I resented it a little bit because I
felt like it pulled me away from the ability to
They just slotted me into that and made me feel
like that's where I belonged, and I was like, well,
I have so much more to offer than just my
physical attributes, obviously, and I thought, you know, fashion magazines
(44:56):
are not going to want to touch that or me
in any way. And you know, that was the one
issue I had with it, because once you got into that,
it was like that was your esthetic. And really, like
when I would film or when I would shoot those magazines,
I always felt like the least version of myself phone
right right, because I was just like, Okay, let me
(45:18):
look at the racket clothing and what am I? What
am I? How far can I go without feeling like
I wasn't? And if you look back, I mean I
feel like the only things I ever did for those
magazines was like bathing suits, because I thought, well, I
I can you know, I frolic and bathing suits all
the time. So I wasn't too worried. So I really
tried to stay as far away from like lingerie as
(45:40):
I could. So I was trying to like find my
happy medium and my balance in that. Yea. But yeah,
and those lists would come out and I actually didn't
even care for those, to be honest, I know, I
I just thought they were another byproduct of this like
crazy thing that was that timeframe. And I'm just I
(46:00):
said to the actress that I just worked with Sadie Soverall,
who's so great on every year after that. I'm just
so glad she's coming up in a time where because
she's so beautiful and she'll get a chance, she's gonna
do all these like beautiful fashion magazines and she'll do
all these great things. But I'm like, I'm just so
glad you're growing up in the industry at a time
(46:22):
when you don't like, you don't have to do those
sorts of things, or you don't feel like those are
the biggest things that are available to you to promote
what you're involved in.
Speaker 3 (46:31):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
They definitely also, like you're talking about with you know,
looking at the rack of clothes, they shaped a certain
type of cool girl aesthetic that didn't actually take into
consideration women at all. It was just whatever they decided
men thought was cool. And so, yeah, you're right that
now so much of what is available to women out
(46:55):
there with fashion magazines and is really about your own
taste and your own style and showing who you are
as a person.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
So the nice thing is too, is that I feel
like magazines in general are kind of shifting away because
of social media. And the great thing about social media.
There's a lot of bad stuff about social media, but
I will say the great thing is that we're in
control of what we want to curate now, yep, exactly,
So like I can decide what I want to show
(47:25):
people that have interest in me, what I want to
show them, you know, And so it takes the control
back a little bit and the power, and it feels
really great to not feel like you have to expose
yourself in any way and you can decide what you
want to do, which is so great.
Speaker 3 (47:43):
So great.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
Well, that leads us to The Girl next Door, which
was a big breakout role for you, and if nothing else,
will forever keep you alive through the power of gifts.
You You're beautiful, you will live forever in gift form.
This movie is so funny, it's very sweet, and you
(48:05):
are wonderful in it. But I also imagine that this
wasn't a very easy role for you.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
No. Again, I was twenty, and I certainly it's funny.
I was telling another friend of mine the other day
about it, because again, a lot of these memes, gifts,
whatever like are all over and which I it's so amazing.
I'm so happy that people still feel connected to the
film and enjoy it, because I certainly do. But I
(48:36):
was I was saying to her that I think I,
even though the role wouldn't be right for me now,
I would have had more confidence doing that role at
forty three yea than I did at twenty, which seems
weird probably to people, But I think at twenty it
felt like such a departure from my confidence and womanhood
(49:00):
that I really felt like I was doing a great
acting job.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, oscar Worthy because yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
I was like, this is such a departure. But I
think people were like, oh, of course, that's how yeah,
you should look and feel. And I remember it was like, yeah,
a lot of hair and makeup, a lot of you know,
smoke and mirrors. I mean, luckily I was twenty, so
it was a good time to be doing that part.
But I don't know if I could be in those
outfits again, but I do I will say that, Yeah,
(49:32):
I think people are surprised to hear from me that
I would have probably felt more comfortable doing a role
like that now.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Yeah, yeah, listen, I couldn't agree with you more. There
is something about when you're a teenager and then you
become a young woman and you've been in the entertainment
industry and all of a sudden people look at you
and they go, now you are a powerful sexual being
and you're like, I'm actual just still a teenager. Yes,
(50:04):
I'm barely out of my teens. You were twenty and
you don't feel that way, but everyone's looking at you
like that's who you are, that's how we perceive you.
And so yeah, requires requires quite a bit of acting.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
And I also do, like I always I laugh because
of Meil Hersch and I we joke about it. But
like there's like a love scene at the end of
the film in the in the limousine after prom and
my because it was in the back of a limousine,
my side of it. Filming was literally with like an
apple box, which for people at home that don't know,
(50:36):
it's like just a square little box and that with
no a meal, with no like interaction with him at all,
just a camera and this box and then flip side
for a meal as well. I mean he was on
the other side of it. And then just like kind
of looking up into camera. I mean, so it's funny,
like people don't realize that the movies take a certain
(51:00):
you know, you have to really put yourself out there
and go for it, and it's not always the most
comfortable situation, and it's certainly not as it always seems
when you're when you're watching the film, but it all
comes together really beautifully. And I really cared about that
character a lot because I thought, you know, she had
a lot of heart and soul and she was vulnerable,
and I didn't look at it as a movie about
(51:22):
a porn star who was just sort of silly and frivolous,
you know. I really felt like she was searching for
her soul and her her purpose and falling in love
with this young man was a part of her journey.
And I just thought it was a beautiful film. And yeah,
but it was. It was. It was. It was a
(51:42):
definitely a difficult film to do, but it was. I
really do love it so much.
Speaker 2 (51:59):
I want to touch on House of Wax because I
think it is very fun.
Speaker 3 (52:05):
First of all, did you like the movie?
Speaker 1 (52:08):
I did like the movie.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
Yeah, okay, good.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
I was happy with the movie.
Speaker 3 (52:11):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
Secondly, and related, will you join my fan club for it?
Speaker 1 (52:17):
Well, I will help you run it. I it okay, great, Okay,
So I'm glad you loved it, okay, because yeah I did.
I really you know, that was one of like those
moments where it was like a pinch me moment on
set because Joel Silver, who was like this huge producer
and he was running Dark Castle at the time, that
was doing like all these amazing big horror films, and
(52:41):
I just remember being on set and like when you
when you know, when you're on a movie and you're like, oh,
this budget is yig, Like this is not some like
middle ground, small independent film. This is like this is
the big boys are out yep. And I remember being like, oh,
I've bade it, like I'm on my I'm leading a
really big feature and it was just incredible and surreal,
(53:04):
and I remember thinking like, this is this is what
I dreamed about, This is what I This was the dream,
This was the goal that I wanted to be an
actress on, like a real film, you know, a Hollywood
movie that I knew was people were going to see,
and and it just felt great and it was a
lot of fun, and like Jared Patalechi and Chad, Michael
(53:25):
Murray and Stilson. It was really it was a beautiful,
beautiful time and we had so much fun. We were
in Australia. We had a great time together.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
And another very physical sect.
Speaker 1 (53:36):
Oh my gosh, yes, very and a lot of stunts
and fire and of course.
Speaker 3 (53:42):
Wax, of course, yes.
Speaker 1 (53:45):
But yeah, it was a really it was really intense.
But I have to say I had a lot of fun.
I had the energy for it, and I was just yeah,
I wanted to like kick ass, and yeah it was good.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
Well after a four year hiatus, yeah, you are back
on screen for Prime videos every year after. Did you
feel at all rusty coming back or did it just
feel like the most natural thing ever?
Speaker 1 (54:11):
It was it was like a breath of fresh air,
like it felt so good. It did because I was
I was emotionally ready for it, and I didn't have
this burden of like I'm leaving my kids behind. And
that's why I had to take the time because after
I had after we had our first I was pregnant
(54:32):
throughout that on the ranch with Ashton Kutcher and I,
So I was pregnant, really pregnant for that, and then
had her while we were like filming and had to
go back and was like breastfeeding through film. Like it
was really hard to like juggle both of those worlds
for me. And then so when we had I was
(54:52):
on another film with Josh Jammel in Atlanta called Bandit,
and I found out I was pregnant on like while
we were there, and I thought, Okay, once this movie
is over, there's no way because I had such bad
morning sickness while we were filming that movie and I
just thought, no, no, no, no, I'm not doing this again,
like I can't, Like I just can't. And then so
(55:15):
what I thought was only going to be about a
year or two ended up turning into four. You know
how the years just sort of fly by. But then yeah,
and then when yeah, every year after it came around
and the project I started, you know, wrapping my head
around coming back to filming and being a part of
something again. And the show came about. I was like
(55:36):
I read the script and I thought, wow, well, how
perfect you know, sort of art imitating life in that
the Szoo character is such a maternal force for this show,
and I thought, wow, this is like the perfect back
introduction into coming back to work, and I just yeah,
I got to set, and that all all felt very
(55:59):
very natural, funny enough. That felt really good And I
didn't feel at a place or nothing felt awkward. It
just felt like it goes exactly where I was supposed
to be.
Speaker 3 (56:12):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2 (56:13):
That's a great feeling because you know, similarly to what
we talked about going back into an auditioning room.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
Yeah, that didn't feel good at all.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
Yeah, that didn't feel good. So knowing like showing up
on set and being.
Speaker 3 (56:23):
Like, ahh, this is right. I'm alostay.
Speaker 1 (56:27):
I never as much as I would I would always
have to like really prepare for auditions. I will say
I never was like the greatest at it to begin with.
So I think auditioning is always awkward, like taking that
much time off. I was like, oh, not so great
for me. But yeah, no, the set felt like, you know,
it's like my home. Yeah, it always felt that's always
(56:49):
felt like home. I've never felt uncomfortable on set.
Speaker 2 (56:52):
Good every year after began as a beloved romance novel,
especially within the book talk culture, were you will of
the rabid fandom and did it scare you a little
bit when you were trying to figure sue out. I mean,
you are obviously competing against what they've had in their
heads for all this time.
Speaker 1 (57:11):
And I think I always will be competing with what
people have in their heads because as an avid reader myself,
I feel the same way. I have a vision. But
it's funny. I don't know for people that read if
they feel this way. And maybe I'm alone on it,
but when I read, I have an idea, but it's
kind of fuzzy mine too.
Speaker 3 (57:30):
I couldn't agree with you more. Yeah, it's very It's
very like with a filter, a blurry filter.
Speaker 1 (57:34):
It's a blurry filter. I mean it's clear, but it's not. Yeah,
So I always like, let myself have a little grace
and that, like, I wouldn't be disappointed if so and
so played that character. But I will say I do
have I think I have a sort of an aesthetic
for it, but a blurred vision of it. But I
I will say, when I got the script, I then
(57:57):
found out that it was based on a novel by
Carl Fortune, and she's Canadian, and so even more so
I was really because being Canadian, I was like, oh
my gosh, I now that I know that i'm doing
the show, I'm going to read the book. So I
got the book and I was hooked, and I thought
it was so well written. I ended up reading the
(58:18):
next book based on the other son's character, Charlie's character,
and then I read all her other books. I went
into like this crazy fandom thing myself with Carly's novels. Yeah,
and then of course, because of my algorithm, I ended
up figuring out what book talk was, and so I've
got I do I do see and get a lot
(58:40):
of recommendations based on obviously liking all.
Speaker 3 (58:42):
That other stuff exactly.
Speaker 1 (58:44):
Yeah. But yeah, as far as like, sorry, your question
was the pressure, you know, I will say that I
did put a lot of pressure on myself because I
had a vision for her, Like I said, a little
blurry vision, but I did have a vision for her.
But my biggest thing was if if I could take
away anything from the novel, and what Sue meant to
(59:05):
me was that like she just had this like joy
and love and presence about her and everyone wanted to
be around her. Yeah, So I was just like, as
long as I can convey that and people feel like
they love Sue, then I feel like I've done a
good job, so I hope. I hope they feel that
and that passion I have for her from reading it.
Speaker 3 (59:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (59:27):
Good, Well, I can't wait to see it. I haven't
seen it yet, but I can't.
Speaker 1 (59:30):
Oh my gosh, the perfect summer show You're gonna love.
Speaker 3 (59:33):
I cannot wait, and I want to read all the
Should I read the books first? Though?
Speaker 2 (59:37):
Because I do love to read, So I'm wondering, like,
should I watch and then read?
Speaker 1 (59:42):
I will discourage you from reading first, but I will
say I would maybe watch it because then the book
you'll kind of know where the story goes, and there
might be some spoilers, got it? So maybe I just
watch and then. But what I will say is, why
don't you watch this season and then read the next
book which takes Pasey. Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
Perfect, Great, I'll start. I'll start first with watching, then
I'll read the.
Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
Next time and then read Meet Me at the Leak.
Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
Yes, Okay, good plan.
Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
I've got so much more to talk to Alicia about,
including her time on one of my favorite shows to
ever air on TV, Happy Endings, and one of our
listener voice memos, So make sure to catch a bonus
episode this Friday exclusively on the dedicated teen Beat feed.
Just search for it wherever you get your podcasts so
you never miss another episode. And I need your voice memos.
(01:00:30):
Send in a one minute clip telling us all about
something embarrassing from your childhood and we'll talk about it.
Email it today to Teenbeatpod at gmail dot com. Teenbeat
is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel.
Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge
of production Danielle Romo, producer and editor Tara Suboch. The
(01:00:51):
theme song is by mar Coppus. Yes that Mark Coppus.
Follow us on Instagram at Teenbeatpod
Cats buds. That's okayas no one here is.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome back to another episode of teen Beat. I'm Danielle Fischel,
host of not only this podcast, but of the nineteen
ninety seven Disney World Easter Parade. It was hot and
I wore a big hat, but now I wear many hats,
and this one has me sitting with interesting people who've
done interesting things every single week, tapping into their teenage
(00:50):
years to find the awkward and uncomfortable truths that connect
us as members of.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
The human race.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Because even if you were on TV as a kid,
like I was exposing every moment of your puberty to
millions of viewers looking back as a way to learn
more about who we've become today.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I look at it this way. I gave you my childhood.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
It's time we hear yours. This week, I'm talking to
a pivotal piece of what I'm calling the Canadian invasion
of Y two K. Whether it was Ryan Gosling breaking
out from the Mickey Mouse Club, or Nellie Furtado flying
like a bird, Hayden Christiansen being cast as a young
Anakin skywalker, or Avril Levine wearing a tie over a
(01:30):
tank top. The Great North really was quite great, and
the all out attack also included a Calgary born, Montreal
raised actress who first found the spotlight as the young
co host of Popular Mechanics for Kids, arguably the oddest
magazine to ever become children's programming unless there was a
(01:51):
good Housekeeping for tweens show that never hit the States.
She would stay in Canada for her first major role
in Air Speed alongside Joe Montaigna, and then the Gemini
Award winning Lucky Girl, leading her to Los Angeles in
two thousand and one, where her whole life changed when
she was cast as Kim Bauer, Keifer Sutherland's always in
peril daughter in the pop culture smash twenty four. She'd
(02:15):
also appear in classic movies like Old School and Love Actually,
and then supply the Internet with thousands of beautiful gifts
from the movie The Girl next Door. But it's her
time on wildly underappreciated projects that interests me most, like
one of TV's funniest modern day sitcoms, Happy Endings, and
the two thousand and five MTV generation remake of House
(02:37):
of Wax, which was much better than it ever should
have been. Now she's returned to our screens after a
four year hiatus where she focused on being a mom,
but now appearing as Sue Flork in the romantic drama
series Every Year After, currently available to stream in full
on Prime Video and today. As fellow members of the
Maxim FHM Complex magazine generation of Young Hollywood, we will
(03:02):
sit together and chat about what it was like to
grow up, both on.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
And off camera.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Because even though in twenty thirteen she was crowned TV's
most Beautiful Woman, I think deep down she must have
some teenage embarrassment to share. Welcome to teen Beat. The
most famous Canadian to never appear on an episode of
De Grassy High.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
It's Alicia Cuthbert. Hi.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, oh my gosh, that kind of made me want
to cry. You did that better than anyone I've ever
heard before.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I couldn't have given my career any better words than that.
I mean, that was that was the whole kit and kaboodle.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You know, sometimes it's just nice to hear all of
your incredible accomplishments.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Redbat to you.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I was getting a little teary eyed. They're like that,
but I was also laughing. I was like, this is
all very accurate. And it's touching my heart. So thank
you for that.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
You are so welcome. Thank you so much for joining
me here on teen Beat. I know I joked about
it at the end of your intro, but I do
need to know. How did you not end up on Degrassi.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I was just going to say, I mean, until you
just uttered those words. I realized that now I have
a little bit of a grudge, like, what the hell
happened that I didn't get to be on that show?
But you know, the director, Kit Hood, he he was
one of the bigger like creators of that show, and
I ended up he directed me in a film, a
(04:25):
feature film in Canada, So I guess I could say
I have a little connection, but not actually on the show,
but yeah, it was. It was a movie called Dancing
on the Moon. And you talk about embarrassment, I think
I had my first kiss on and it was on screen,
so I was so nervous.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And something else you can share. My first kiss was
on camera too. How old were you.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Want to say? I was fourteen? Okay, yeah, weird. I
can't picture him. I'd have to go back and look,
I can't picture like I can't. I was so petrified
and I was so out of my element that, like
you know when you have like a trauma experience and
you like walk it out like did that even happen?
(05:11):
Like I don't even know, but it's true, And I mean, yeah,
that was so what was your? Was yours? How scary?
It was so scary, wasn't it?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
It was scary.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
We had a live studio audience because it was on
a sitcom, so it was you know, live studio audience
and my grandparents and my parents. It was like everybody's watching.
And we didn't kiss through the week, so we didn't
rehearse the kiss, so like the actual first time kiss
kiss was in front of you know, hundreds of people
and on camera.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. No, we had and our we
had a crew, and it was so crazy. They they
it just ended up that it was scheduled for the
last scene of the night. And so I had just
stew on it like all night, all day and all
night like leading up to it, and I just I
had put it in my head like one I didn't
want to mess it up because I was like, I
(06:03):
don't know how to do this. So if like I
got to go in there, what if I like fumble
and like kisses nose or I don't.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Know, like I own my hands off.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Oh my god, what if our teak link? I was like,
I don't know what to do, but it ended up
happening and it was fine, and I was like, I
don't know why I made such a big deal of it,
but I yeah, it was very scary, but yeah, that's
it's so funny, like you put yourself in these situations
on set that you know because you're you're acting and
(06:35):
it's not real, but yet I mean, obviously you're a
part of it and it's.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Your physical body bringing it to life. So like it's
not a fake kiss. There may not be like sexual
tension behind it, but there's it's really happening.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It's really happening.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I want to go back to even earlier because I
know you started modeling at just seven years old, and
I want to know how did that come about? Because
I'm always interested in the moment you go from just
adorable child to adorable child model, Like were you discovered
in the Tim Horton's How did this?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
How did it happen?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
You know, it's so funny. My mom and dad would
get you know, pestered a lot, like when we were
out together when I was like a real infant, even
like I think my mom has a story you'd have
to tell, ask her, but like, I mean, there were
stories where people would come up and be like, oh,
you should put her inmaddling, And it was just I
think fate was sort of aligning this path for me
(07:34):
way earlier than I even understood. And then at one
point a family friend was a casting director but and
she had mentioned to my parents about maybe having me,
you know, just go and do some modeling stuff. And
so they finally relented and they were just like, Okay,
(07:56):
let's let's let's do this. And I mean, I was
so young, I didn't even and I just knew I
was having a good time. I didn't know that it
was like work per se. I just thought it was
really fun activity to do. But yeah, I would say that,
like I look back on it, and it is mysterious
in a way that like not my parents or anyone
else that was in my inner circle where ever pushing
(08:16):
it was just things were sort of coming into my
path in a way that I can't even explain. It is.
It is one of those mysterious things that I that
I still question and I go, well, obviously I'm on
the path that I should be on, and fate was
sort of leading me towards that.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So yeah, yeah, that's another thing we share very similar
story paper.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I feel that was going to happen everywhere we went.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
My parents were told, you should get her in you
need to get her in modeling, or you need to
get her in commercials.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
And it was and my parents were.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Like, we don't know anything about this, like none, no
one in our family did it. They were like, we
don't know how to do it. And then when that
wasn't working, a girl I went to school with got
an agent and she just told me about it and
I went home and then was like, I want an agent.
It was like the universe was like, all right, we'll
try all these different avenues until you land down the
path that you're gonna land.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And I think too, I think our personalities. I mean,
I was not a shy child. I was always interested
in speaking to people, like you know, I with my son,
particularly like you know, we work on like when we're
at a restaurant, like I try to encourage him to
order what he wants and not you know, kind of
step over that. And but of course he's he's timid,
and he's shy, he's little, and but you know, I
(09:30):
do recall being younger and having this sort of fearless personality.
I feel like I'm more shy now in my adulthood
than I was then. But I I agreed, right, And
I remember just being like ready to go to anybody
be like, hey, what's up totally? What's your story?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah? Tell me more? What's that? What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Yeah? How can I help you? Like? What what?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
You know?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I'll have the cheeseburger with the you know.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
My son's like, yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
I need to work on that too, because they both
my kids have when they're when they warm up, both
of them turn on these big personalities, but there's always
that moment where they have to decide, am I going
to do a dation a little?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So, like it's probably a smart idea right before you
walk into a place, to be like, let's practice what
we're going to do.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
We're going to walk into a restaurant, you're going to order, so.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Let's pretend I'm the waiter, you know, like even just
to give them a practice run at it right before
it happens. But that's really smart that you're encouraging that
because people's skills are a lost start.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
For well, they're turning into a lot of star people
learning how to communicate. Is is dying out slowly. I mean,
it's so strange to see. But yeah, we really do
try to encourage the kids to be as independent as possible,
and especially in those scenarios because you know, they have
to learn how to speak up for themselves at some point.
And I may not always be right there at his
(10:55):
side or her side because we have an eight year
old daughter as well, where you know, I can you know,
always like they can always fall back on. I want
them to, you know, have the skills to at least
order a.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Meal exactly, at least be able to say you'd like
a cheeseburger. You know, you've got to be able to
do that exactly. Let's chat popular mechanics for KOOO. You
posted seasons one through four and it was based on
a magazine and you covered topics like animals, the human body, amusement, parks, electricity.
(11:27):
Is there one lesson or something you learned from the show,
like maybe a fact or a topic that is still
weirdly with you.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
You know, it's funny, there are there's plenty, and it's weird.
How like throughout my life they've helped me because it
was almost like another mini education for four years that
was so intense, and like, I find myself way more
handy than I ever should have been as far as
(12:00):
like I mean, I'll give you an example, like our
toilet was running the other day and I just you know,
didn't even think twice, just lifted the lid, knew the
mechanics of it. Oh, the chain's off, the chain back bank,
toilet's working again, And I'm like, wait, how did I
just do that?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I don't hate that.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
It has to be something to do with all of
the mechanical education I had on that show. But we
also got to do some really cool things that no
one else had ever gotten to do. I mean, at
one point we were on invited onto an aircraft carrier
for three days and I mean just getting all the
(12:39):
information on how the whole craft ran, you know, getting
to be catapulted off the craft. I mean, I don't
think there was no other television crew up until that point.
I mean I don't know about now, but up until
that point when we were there. It was the first
TV crew to ever be invited to film on an
aircraft carrier. So it was super top secret and it
(13:00):
was super yeah exclusive, and it was a really cool thing.
So I remember like getting to like walk away from
those experiences and be like, there's no one else on
the planet that other than a military trained personnel person
would if that's what you call them.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yeah, yeah, that's the official title.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah that sounded official, but yeah, other than like people
that were trained to be there, you know. I was like,
I we are so special, We're so lucky, and yeah,
you learn like little things like you know, the the
flight takes off, like you go from zero to like
sixty and like two seconds to get catfolded off. That
(13:38):
it was like unbelievable. And yeah, so I mean in
the list goes on and on, I just yeah, as
far as like electricity goes and you know, hot air balloons.
We were up in hot air balloons. I rode an elephant.
I mean I got like I always say to my husband,
I'm like, sometimes I feel like when I go back
and people ask me about the show, I feel like
(13:58):
that Doseci guy on the Comer. I feel like the
most fascinating because every you know, the best thing that
came away from it is that no matter where I
am at any dinner party or any sort of event,
I can I feel like I can converse with almost
anybody on most topics. So it's it was a really yeah,
like really amazing experience to have.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
What a great work experience, Like, yeah, it sounds so fun.
Did you get to spend any of your popular mechanics
money did you have? Like what was the first thing
you treated yourself to as a kid.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
No, you know, I my parents helped me save it
all and I used it to uh move to Los
Angeles and get an apartment and you know, try to
make it in Hollywood. That's really where all that money.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Went, yeah, which is an expensive endeavor.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Yeah, it was. So I was like I was and
you probably know I was at the Oakwood apartment and
Boulevard right brothers. I was like feeling very uh you know,
old Hollywood in that way, and it was it was
and you know, Jay Bearishall also moved in there. Another
actor we know, Andrew Walker, he's also a good actor.
(15:15):
He was he was there at that every like they're
like generational groups of actors that sort of find themselves
at or if it's.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
It doesn't even exist anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
No, well there you go.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I know, I know it's it's a real time capsule.
But we we we talk about it on Podmeats World
all the time because it seems as though everyone lived
there at some point. Everyone had their friends, their crew
that lived there.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Uh. Yeah, it's it's quite it.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
It was. It was scary, but it was iconic, exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
It was both of those things at the same time.
Kind of like in general the teenage years. It's just
scary but iconic exactly. One thing I have to ask you,
because it's a pretty famous story that Hillary Clinton saw
one of your reports and reached out to you to
meet at the White House. Yes, did you steal anything
to take it home? Don't worry, I think the statute
(16:07):
of limitations has passed.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
But I'm dying to know. Do you have any sort
of memento from your time at the White House.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I was too I was too afraid to steal anything,
but I will say I will say that I got
to hold socks the cat. I don't know if you
remember they had a black piece, yes, And I don't
know if you're a cat person. But I remember seeing
the cat come down the famous corridor with the red
carpet and I was like, is that socks And they
were like, yeah, do you want to hold them? I'm
(16:35):
like yes. So I was like I got a chance to,
you know, hang out with the cat, which was great.
And you know, I ended up seeing Hillary Clinton again,
like twenty years after the fact, and I knew I
was going to see her because she was speaking at
an event that I was at, and I thought, well,
if there's a chance that I could, you know, maybe
(16:56):
run into her, I should keep this. I snagged up
photo that we took together from twenty years ago on
my phone and I ended up getting to speak with
her and I said, I have I met you at
the White House and it was so amazing and I'm
sure because she's met a million horns two people, and
so I showed her the photograph and she loved it.
(17:19):
She was like, look at my hair. I'm like, look
at my hair. We were just like laughing at the
fact that our hair was so hers hers was really short.
It was really cute. She said she looked great, but
we were totally laughing like old girlfriends about her hairstyles
and what we were wearing. She goes, I remember that
pink suit. I'm like, oh my gosh, I said, I
(17:39):
don't know why I was wearing a man's blazer, but
I guess that made me feel official. But we were
dying and it was so funny, and yeah, it was
a really cool thing. We got to go into all
the different rooms and that we met in the we
had a meeting in the mapping room together. And she
just she loved Popular Mechanics for Kids because at the
time she was involved in educational programming in the US
(18:02):
and she was trying to get every broadcast station to
at least have one or two educational programs for kids. Yeah,
and so when she saw that Canada was doing Popular
Maccancs for kids, she ended up getting it syndicated through
the States. And yeah, she really liked it. So it
was really cool.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
That is so cool.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, on a broader scale, what were you like as
a teen?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Were you boy crazy?
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Not? Really?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Yeah, I love that for you. I was. I wish
I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
I wish I didn't waste so many years of my
life just being obsessed with boys. So I just, yeah,
I love that for you, Well, were you into.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
I think I was like an old soul.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
I always thought that it's funny because it's so the
opposite of how my personal life turned out. But I
always thought that I wouldn't get married and that I
wouldn't have kids. And I was like dad set on
being a professional and wanting to just be this like
I don't know, Meryl Street. I was so driven and
(19:13):
I had like the horse blinders on and I I mean,
I had a boyfriend in high school that I had
for many years and I didn't really yeah, I didn't.
I didn't really have any others. And then it was
but I was really focused on my career and yeah,
and it wasn't. And I was terrified about having children too.
(19:33):
I felt like there's I was scared to, you know,
be pregnant. I was scared to think that I could
be like a great mom because my mom was so amazing.
And I was like, wow, I'm such a working person.
I don't see how this fits into my life. Yeah,
but then you know, you meet the right person and
then those things become so clear, yeah, and so factual
(19:58):
and correct, and yeah, you can't imagine not doing it.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
So totally.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, so that all shifted for me. But for many, many, many,
many many years, it was just all work driven, which
is crazy, right, And yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I really do though.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I so appreciate that because it's the exact opposite of
how I was, and I wish I had been like
here I was from twelve to nineteen on boy meets World,
working and all I could think, thank you, And all
I could think was like, ugh, this career I have
is really taking me away from my purpose, which is
(20:35):
to get married and have children as soon as humanly possible.
And I think part of that was the fact that
my parents met at fifteen and got married at twenty one,
and so I just had in my mind that like,
that's what.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
I was going to do.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And then of course that's not at all how my
life turned out. But I spent all those years thinking
that I was failing because that wasn't what was happening.
And so yeah, like I just I'm so I loved
hearing that you spent all those years being like, I'm
just gonna focus on me.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
I was a cold hearted No, you had a long
term boyfriend.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It wasn't that you didn't have love in your life.
You just thought that was not what you were obsessed with.
You were like, I'm gonna develop my sense of self,
which I wish I had done more of in my
umber years.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah, it's funny. I feel like what you experienced, though,
is very natural and makes a whole lot of sense.
I was just always conflicted as to why I didn't
want any of those things, and I just thought, that's
so strange to like not be one of like my
girlfriends or even my sister. I remember my sister, like
when we used to play when we were kids, it
was like, oh, her dolls were her babies, and I
(21:44):
was like, oh, I.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Don't know, babies, ill not babies.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Ell.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
No, did you go to traditional school while you were
working as a kid or did you were you always homeschooled?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
I went to traditional school, although my experience was so
ridiculous because I probably should have been homeschooled. I think
a lot of my last three four years of high
school were you know, in the trailer and with the
on set tutors and you know, the drill. I did
all my exams and yeah, like the trailers. It was
(22:22):
so weird. I mean I remember at one point, like,
you know, your attendance report card at the end, and
it was like, I think I missed like half the
school year. But I will say when I was home
and you know, I would get back from filming, it
would go I'd go, yeah, just like a normal kid,
I'd go straight to school and regular high school. Yeah.
(22:43):
It was you know, it was weird. I I always
felt like high school and elementary at the time because
I was filming, felt like such a burden, like it
was in my way right. I was like, this is
like it was always aggravating because here I was trying
to focus one hundred percent of my time and energy
into what I was filming, and then they'd have to
(23:04):
like rip me off set for two hours to study
math and English, and I'm like, I'm not gonna need
any of this. I want to learn English, and you know,
I yeah, I was like, I don't want to like
be in school. I have a job, Like, isn't the
whole point of going to school to train to do
something and I'm already doing it. So it always I
(23:24):
always had this like real bad tug of war with it,
and I couldn't wait for it to be over. And
then now again ironically I wish I would have had
like the college university experience and knew what that felt like.
I never got to really do any of that, And
I think i'd be a way better student now too,
(23:46):
because I you know, as you get older, you your mind,
you're quenched to like learn and take in new things
and experiences. And I know what I'd want to study,
and so it would be you know, at one point
during COVID, I almost try to do some online university classes,
and but then I was like, oh gosh, the kids,
and I was like, nah, maybe not, I'll just keep
(24:07):
drinking my wine.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
What would you want to study now?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I think I would like history, art history. I think
like Cornell had some really cool like women leaders in
business nice. I don't know there was some other topics,
but yeah, I think like there were so many. And
I was extremely dyslexic as a child, okay, and which
(24:33):
most artists, I think most artistic people can be. It's
not uncommon. But I really struggled and then but now
I've found a way to you know, ease my mind
work into it. I read so much now and so
studying and all that I think would come a lot
more naturally to me, so yeah, but I did end
(24:54):
up doing it.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Very similarly, I also did not enjoy or appreciate school when.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
I was I just it was. It felt annoying to me.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
It was not my favorite thing. I just wanted to
do the bare minimum I could do to still get by.
But then I did go to college at twenty seven.
I studied, and I knew I wanted to study psychology,
and I graduated and I loved it. So I think
you're right that you now that you have a you know,
a better understanding of what specifically you'd be looking for
(25:25):
to you know, you could take any classes you want.
You're not limited by like getting a specific type of degree.
You'd probably be an A plus student and would love it.
So I highly recommend just signing up even just one,
one little class, you know, class online.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Just like yeah, I dip my toe and your toe in.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
See what happens. If you end up loving it, you
can always do.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
More amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
When you look back.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Would you consider yourself to be a cool kid because
it seems like you'd be really cool.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
I don't know about cool, but I would say that
I really got along with everybody I wasn't in like
some mean girl clique or.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
I'd say it was like very much Canadian in the
sense that I was super neutral.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, everybody's great.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I Yeah, everyone's amazing. I would hang out with like
the goth kids. I would talk to, like the athletes
I liked, you know. But I did have my two
really best girlfriends. They were like my steadfast like we
were always thickest thieves together, Jan and Steph, and we
were just they were my people. And then but I
(26:49):
really got along with everybody and I so I would
say not so much popular, but I don't think anyone,
you know, I don't think anyone had a problem with me, right,
you know, you.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Weren't offensive to anyone.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I wasn't. I wasn't. But I wouldn't say I was
like the cool kid. I just think, Yeah, like I said,
I feel like, you know, neutral would be the best
way to describe it.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Totally get that. Are you still friends with Jen and Steph?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Steph? You know I haven't talked to Stephan a while,
but Jen, Yes, Jen, I I I'm still close with. Yeah.
It's uh that that those are friendships that you know,
you go through life and they're just with you for
so many years. Of it, and they've you know, they've
been there through such interesting times too, and you're like
(27:37):
adolescents when you're becoming an adult and going through those,
like you said, those awkward teenage years. You know, we
have so many funny stories and history together that you
just it's undeniable, like it no matter how much time
we have a part, or how much time goes without
a phone call. I know that when I do speak
to her, it's like we never left, and those are
(28:00):
like so special and really, yeah, you kind of cherish
those those friendships. It's because it's in your adulthood. It's
really hard to make friends like that because the history
is just not there.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Exactly yep, I know, And they're getting to know such
a I feel like friends you make now only get
to know one very specific briide of you, version of you. Yeah,
whereas you know, and this version of me is not
even the best version, not that it's a bad version,
but like there was a time before children where I
(28:33):
was more fun and I'm just not as fun now,
And so no offense to the new friends I have,
but you're not getting the most fun me.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
You're getting a very kind of structured now.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
When we want to be like the fun version of ourselves.
We pay for it totally, like there's no like I
remember after having our first I had I forget. It
was like, I don't know what we were doing, but
we had a night out and my parents were watching
our daughter and we got home at like, I don't know,
twelve thirty and I certainly had too much wine or
(29:06):
whatever it was, and I just wanted to, like, you know,
treat myself. I had finally finished breastfeeding. I was like, oo,
time to go. And that was the night my daughter
decided in the middle of the night to have a
flu throwing up. My head was pounding. It was like
they know they can sniff out when you're trying to
enjoy yourself exactly, you're just a little naughty. They just
(29:27):
know when you want to be a little naughty.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Totally. They're like, are you having fun without it?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
They're like, I'm gonna decide to get blue and you're
like really, or my teeths are going to start coming
in and I'm going to have a fever. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
It's always the way.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Oh they wait, They wait until you're in the worst
position ever.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
So I want to go back to when you moved
out to Hollywood, which I think was two thousand and one,
you were not even twenty one. Two thousand, okay, so
two thousand, you're not even twenty one years old. No,
did you come out by yourself? Were you super nervous?
Did you all like, did you know people?
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Now I didn't any This is a funny story actually,
so I didn't know anyone. Like I said, I had
a place at the Oakward Apartments, and I I'm not
even kidding you. When I landed, I get to the
apartment and I get through the door and I'm like, okay,
I'm going to like set up all my stuff. And
really the only possessions that I had were like my clothing,
(30:31):
my toiletries, and like twelve of my favorite DVDs. Because
now we're talking. Wait, all these people kids listening to this,
They're like, it's a DVD. Yes, I had DVDs, my
favorite DVDs, and I opened my suitcase and they're all gone.
So from the store loved, Yeah, from the time I
(30:51):
left Canada to the time I got someone you know,
in transit ended up opening my suitcase and stealing all
my DVDs. So all I had was clothing and toils.
I have to tell you I wasn't afraid to be
in LA. I was excited. I was really ready to
like do everything I could to make it and to
hopefully get a job there. But what I will say
(31:13):
is that the one thing I wasn't expecting was like
the loneliness. And I think, you know, not having DVDs
didn't help.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Nothing to watch.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
I mean that was that was like my fallback of
like I know it when I'm not like reading scripts
and going to auditions.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Mom's asked my favorite movies. Yeah, didn't even have that.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
But yeah, it was my first experience away. And you
know how hard it is in LA to like meet people,
You're either in your car. I'm sure your guests have
said this. It's like LA is not a very easy
place to just socialize. When you're in New York. You
walk down the street, there's bodies, there's people everywhere. Yes,
LA doesn't have that culture. So I just spent a
(32:00):
lot of time by myself for a good I want
to say, like gear, Yeah, pretty secluded and that was
there were Yeah, there were moments where I just I
didn't want to give up. I didn't It didn't propel
me to like want to leave or give up on it.
It was, but it was just a feeling that I
had to like settle into my self and my loneeness
(32:24):
and my comfortable just being comfortable with being by myself and.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Being just with me, and such a good lesson.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
But it's really interesting to confront because when you when
you grow up, you've got your siblings, and if you
don't have your siblings, you have your cousins, or you
have your parents are always there. You have your network
of friends that you go to school and see every day,
and then you're just like I was just picked right
up out of that whole situation and then just pluck
plunked myself down into an apartment with zero nothing, and
(32:55):
I went, whooh, you know, and I didn't have a boyfriend.
I didn't have It wasn't like I was like having
like phone conversations with a long distance board. I really
was very very alone. But it helped me focus on
the goals, which were, you know, getting out there and
succeeding and whatnot. So it wasn't totally bad, but wow,
(33:15):
that was an interesting time.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
So when in that process after moving to LA did
you read for twenty four.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Six months into that, Wow, six months into that, I
ended up.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
I had it.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
They don't do these things anymore, but or at least
I don't think they do unless they're bringing them back
and maybe you can tell me. But I had a
network deal, like an exclusive network deal with Fox when
I got there, so I was only allowed to audition
for Fox shows pilots, Okay, that didn't cross over into
the feature side of things, but it was exclusive for television,
(33:51):
so my auditioning was Back then, there was a ton
of stuff for men of every network, but you know,
Fox definitely had a lot of stuff going on. So
it wasn't like I was lacking in anything as far
as like auditions go, but I was only auditioning for them,
and I got close to a couple of things, and
then twenty four was but I was getting dangerously close
(34:12):
to like the end of my stay, okay, and I
remember being like, I don't know if this is going
to work out, I'm gonna have to go back to Canada,
I'm gonna have to go to college or you know.
I just I wasn't sure what was going to happen,
and I was really nervous about it. All, and I
ended up getting the twenty four pilot script, and it
(34:33):
was my last audition before I was the deal was
going to be up and I was going to be
heading back, so there was a lot on it. But
I also thought, you know, I took a crack at it,
and maybe if I can go back and work in
Canada and save up some more money, I'll have enough
to keep going and come back. But then I went
in and auditioned and I didn't hear anything for like
a week, and then I got a call saying, oh,
(34:56):
they want to read you again, and then they want
to read you again, and then so it was like
three four times I went in and then and then
I had a screen test with Kiefer and it was
like me and another girl, and I just thought, okay,
let's see what happens. And I just gave it my all.
And I thought, you know, I'm not gonna worry about it.
I'm gonna put stress on myself. I'm just gonna go. Really,
I'm gonna be really prepared ready to go. And I
(35:16):
went in and then I was driving driving home and
I thought to myself, well, I guess this is it.
And then as soon as I got into the apartment,
I had a voicemail and it was my agent going
turn back around. They want to do a wardrobe fitting.
You're filming on Monday.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
I was like, oh my god. So I called my
parents and I was like, I guess I'm not coming
home on Wednesday. Wow.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Literally the lat like days away from you going home.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't. I mean from the time the
audition's process started with twenty four but by the time
I ended up getting it, I was literally three days
away from that was a Friday. They called me and
they were like, you got it. It's good, You're good,
and I'm You're gonna film on Monday, and I was
supposed to my flight home to cam it was on
the Wednesday, So I was cuttings. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
So I don't think they do that anymore, those exclusive
audition deals.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I don't think so, because I think the landscape is
so different now and we have so many streamings. Yeah,
it's so And even like the auditioning process, I don't
I can't even I went into I don't know if
you've been in one recently, but I went into one
audition like physically went in And now because we now
we put ourselves on like if something comes up and
they need a tape, you do it yourself. Now because
(36:28):
of after COVID, everything has changed. And but I did
get a call for a show recently, like I think
five months ago or something, and they were like, oh, no,
they're they're seeing people in person. And I went oh,
and I was like, oh, that's fine, and so I
prep it and I do everything, and then I got
in there and there was like all the producers and
then the camera. It had been so long, and I
(36:51):
just I mean, I've been doing you You've been doing this.
I've been doing this for decades, two decades, and I'm like,
all of a sudden, I reverted back to like it's
eleven years old. And I was like and I couldn't
even speak, and I was like and I said, to know,
I'm so sorry, I have to start again. I'm like, yeah,
I'm like, my hands are shaked. I'm like, why am
I shaking? This is very weird.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I have not been in an audition room in a
very long time. But I did have my first like
in person meeting, just you know, a non zoom meeting,
and it was it was the same thing. I was like,
you can see the lower half of my body. I'm
not used to that. I like, I don't know what
to do with my hands, And when there is a silence,
(37:35):
I felt like I had to immediately fill it.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
It was so it was so weird. I was like,
I don't know how to have meetings in person anymore.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Yeah, And it was so funny because I had this
like outer body experience, and that's sort of what like
stumped me a little bit because as soon as we
started getting into the scene, I like left my body
and I started seeing myself, like you said, trying to
fill the space. And I was like rushing through this
dialogue and I was like, this is not even how
I act. Like I don't even understand like what this
(38:03):
performance is that I'm trying to pull off. But I
was like I had to halt it. I was like,
oh no, no, I was just like this is so weird.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Sorry, let me start again. I'm going to take a breath.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
But I think it's just like another byproduct of that
COVID experience in that we've now all had to sort
of find ways to do what we do away from
human beings and then to get myself into a room
which used to be so normal to me feels so
(38:37):
foreign because we're just so not used to the process
with other human beings around, and that human connection it
changed the energy within me in such a way that
I was like taken aback and I thought, oh, I
got to work on that, because that's not me and
nor was it ever my experience before that. So I
just got so used to sort of, you know, curating
(39:00):
my own stuff, editing my own tapes, you know, doing
all those things. So it was really an eye opener.
But it's funny, I don't you know. We just did
shot this show in Vancouver, and I will say that
didn't feel any different, and filming didn't feel different, and
if anything, that's like my happy place. Yeah, but you know,
those audition spaces are very awkward because it's just a
(39:21):
weird room, an office. It's it's they're not they're not
like the real deal.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
YEP, I totally know exactly what you mean.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
It feels very and also if you are very performative,
you have you are literally there to perform, and yet
you also are supposed to be based in reality and grounded,
and so there's a there's like a real you where
you talk for a little bit first and then you
have to.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Do the performative you.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
For you know, it was so funny. We didn't even talk.
It was like okay, go and I was like, oh, oh,
we don't even get to like no, like, how's the
weather today?
Speaker 3 (39:54):
Nothing?
Speaker 1 (39:54):
No? Nothing? No?
Speaker 3 (39:56):
All right?
Speaker 1 (39:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
I know that when I watched TV, because you know,
we grew up in the business, I'm always wondering what
was the shoot like, And when watching twenty four I
remember constantly thinking, this seems very challenging. I am guessing
there were a lot of middle of the night shoots,
action scenes with stunts, intense continuity.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
There was a lot of running, too much running. If
you ask me what was shooting that show.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Like very intense. You nailed all the major points of
that experience. I would say continuity for sure. But we
had great continuity people, so that helped. I don't know
if you've ever been like on a quick film where
you're like also having to focus on continuity. It's really difficult.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
It is very difficult.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Yes, yeah, it's not great, but no, on that show,
they it was it was like a well oiled machine.
I will say so, I really only had to like
dial in and focus on what I needed to do,
but it was my stuff was very intense and trying
to not make that character Kim Bauer feel like, you know,
(41:22):
a burden in a way, you know, and and bring
as much realism to the ridiculous scenarios that she was
involved in. And I, you know, it's so funny. I
have a couple of young actresses that I know now
that are in that stage of their career where, you know,
you hit an age where you're too young to do
any of the younger stuff, but you're not old enough
(41:42):
to play you know, the wife, the you know or
the love interests, and you end up slotting yourself into
the daughter role. Like at some point, if you're starting
off as a child actor, you're gonna you're gonna end
up being the daughter role. Yep, maybe even more than once.
And the daughter role is really challenging because the daughter
(42:02):
role is a role that I can't really die because
it's it's too sacred. But at the same time, they
have to write you in and find ways to keep
your relevant. And you see that with a lot of
different shows. Although Landman is doing a great job with
you know, Ali latter's playing the amazing mom and her daughter,
(42:24):
and you know, the their writing is becoming really interesting.
But for a long time, I think that daughter role
always felt like the Kim Bauer. I was like, I
was like the epitome of the daughter role, right right,
It's a stereotypical daughter role. But yeah, it was. It
was intense. It was a lot of fun though. But
we did a lot of night shoots. We I remember,
I think for like, I don't know what it was
five months out of the year. I was sleeping during
(42:46):
the day, work being during the night. Yeah, it was
a lot.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Did you like being an action star?
Speaker 1 (42:52):
I did? Actually, I loved it. Yeah. I feel like
House of Wax. I got to do a bunch of
action too towards the end of the film, which is
I got to pull my experience from twenty four. Yeah.
Action is really is great. I love it.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
I want to talk about this era we grew up
into of the men's magazine. Oh yeah, every I mean
the teen idol publication transformed into basically bikini photoshoots with
matchups between us about who's hotter, which is super cool, brutal.
Did that kind of attention make you uncomfortable at the
(43:28):
time or did you just embrace it?
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Oh? I think I was pretty uncomfortable.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:34):
Yeah, I never really understood it, and I also knew
that it was a beast of a thing that was
that was undeniable and unavoidable, correct, right, Like, I don't
think there was a time or space where you felt
like you could go to your publicism and be like,
absolutely not. I mean no, the viewership, the amount of
people that tuned into that kind of stuff, and the
(43:59):
volume in which the magazines were selling was beyond so
it was undeniable and you just felt like anytime, or
at least I did. I felt like anytime we were
going to promote something, whether it was twenty four Old
School or the Girl next Door especially, it was like
(44:20):
get her on the cover of yeh Men's magazine.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Yep, it was feel one of the highest I mean,
it was one of the most sought after promotional tools.
And that's how it was just sold to us that
it was promo. It was promo for your projects.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
I think I resented it a little bit because I
felt like it pulled me away from the ability to
They just slotted me into that and made me feel
like that's where I belonged, and I was like, well,
I have so much more to offer than just my
physical attributes, obviously, and I thought, you know, fashion magazines
(44:56):
are not going to want to touch that or me
in any way. And you know, that was the one
issue I had with it, because once you got into that,
it was like that was your esthetic. And really, like
when I would film or when I would shoot those magazines,
I always felt like the least version of myself phone
right right, because I was just like, Okay, let me
(45:18):
look at the racket clothing and what am I? What
am I? How far can I go without feeling like
I wasn't? And if you look back, I mean I
feel like the only things I ever did for those
magazines was like bathing suits, because I thought, well, I
I can you know, I frolic and bathing suits all
the time. So I wasn't too worried. So I really
tried to stay as far away from like lingerie as
(45:40):
I could. So I was trying to like find my
happy medium and my balance in that. Yea. But yeah,
and those lists would come out and I actually didn't
even care for those, to be honest, I know, I
I just thought they were another byproduct of this like
crazy thing that was that timeframe. And I'm just I
(46:00):
said to the actress that I just worked with Sadie Soverall,
who's so great on every year after that. I'm just
so glad she's coming up in a time where because
she's so beautiful and she'll get a chance, she's gonna
do all these like beautiful fashion magazines and she'll do
all these great things. But I'm like, I'm just so
glad you're growing up in the industry at a time
(46:22):
when you don't like, you don't have to do those
sorts of things, or you don't feel like those are
the biggest things that are available to you to promote
what you're involved in.
Speaker 3 (46:31):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
They definitely also, like you're talking about with you know,
looking at the rack of clothes, they shaped a certain
type of cool girl aesthetic that didn't actually take into
consideration women at all. It was just whatever they decided
men thought was cool. And so, yeah, you're right that
now so much of what is available to women out
(46:55):
there with fashion magazines and is really about your own
taste and your own style and showing who you are
as a person.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
So the nice thing is too, is that I feel
like magazines in general are kind of shifting away because
of social media. And the great thing about social media.
There's a lot of bad stuff about social media, but
I will say the great thing is that we're in
control of what we want to curate now, yep, exactly,
So like I can decide what I want to show
(47:25):
people that have interest in me, what I want to
show them, you know, And so it takes the control
back a little bit and the power, and it feels
really great to not feel like you have to expose
yourself in any way and you can decide what you
want to do, which is so great.
Speaker 3 (47:43):
So great.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
Well, that leads us to The Girl next Door, which
was a big breakout role for you, and if nothing else,
will forever keep you alive through the power of gifts.
You You're beautiful, you will live forever in gift form.
This movie is so funny, it's very sweet, and you
(48:05):
are wonderful in it. But I also imagine that this
wasn't a very easy role for you.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
No. Again, I was twenty, and I certainly it's funny.
I was telling another friend of mine the other day
about it, because again, a lot of these memes, gifts,
whatever like are all over and which I it's so amazing.
I'm so happy that people still feel connected to the
film and enjoy it, because I certainly do. But I
(48:36):
was I was saying to her that I think I,
even though the role wouldn't be right for me now,
I would have had more confidence doing that role at
forty three yea than I did at twenty, which seems
weird probably to people, But I think at twenty it
felt like such a departure from my confidence and womanhood
(49:00):
that I really felt like I was doing a great
acting job.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, oscar Worthy because yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
I was like, this is such a departure. But I
think people were like, oh, of course, that's how yeah,
you should look and feel. And I remember it was like, yeah,
a lot of hair and makeup, a lot of you know,
smoke and mirrors. I mean, luckily I was twenty, so
it was a good time to be doing that part.
But I don't know if I could be in those
outfits again, but I do I will say that, Yeah,
(49:32):
I think people are surprised to hear from me that
I would have probably felt more comfortable doing a role
like that now.
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Yeah, yeah, listen, I couldn't agree with you more. There
is something about when you're a teenager and then you
become a young woman and you've been in the entertainment
industry and all of a sudden people look at you
and they go, now you are a powerful sexual being
and you're like, I'm actual just still a teenager. Yes,
(50:04):
I'm barely out of my teens. You were twenty and
you don't feel that way, but everyone's looking at you
like that's who you are, that's how we perceive you.
And so yeah, requires requires quite a bit of acting.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
And I also do, like I always I laugh because
of Meil Hersch and I we joke about it. But
like there's like a love scene at the end of
the film in the in the limousine after prom and
my because it was in the back of a limousine,
my side of it. Filming was literally with like an
apple box, which for people at home that don't know,
(50:36):
it's like just a square little box and that with
no a meal, with no like interaction with him at all,
just a camera and this box and then flip side
for a meal as well. I mean he was on
the other side of it. And then just like kind
of looking up into camera. I mean, so it's funny,
like people don't realize that the movies take a certain
(51:00):
you know, you have to really put yourself out there
and go for it, and it's not always the most
comfortable situation, and it's certainly not as it always seems
when you're when you're watching the film, but it all
comes together really beautifully. And I really cared about that
character a lot because I thought, you know, she had
a lot of heart and soul and she was vulnerable,
and I didn't look at it as a movie about
(51:22):
a porn star who was just sort of silly and frivolous,
you know. I really felt like she was searching for
her soul and her her purpose and falling in love
with this young man was a part of her journey.
And I just thought it was a beautiful film. And yeah,
but it was. It was. It was. It was a
(51:42):
definitely a difficult film to do, but it was. I
really do love it so much.
Speaker 2 (51:59):
I want to touch on House of Wax because I
think it is very fun.
Speaker 3 (52:05):
First of all, did you like the movie?
Speaker 1 (52:08):
I did like the movie.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
Yeah, okay, good.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
I was happy with the movie.
Speaker 3 (52:11):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
Secondly, and related, will you join my fan club for it?
Speaker 1 (52:17):
Well, I will help you run it. I it okay, great, Okay,
So I'm glad you loved it, okay, because yeah I did.
I really you know, that was one of like those
moments where it was like a pinch me moment on
set because Joel Silver, who was like this huge producer
and he was running Dark Castle at the time, that
was doing like all these amazing big horror films, and
(52:41):
I just remember being on set and like when you
when you know, when you're on a movie and you're like, oh,
this budget is yig, Like this is not some like
middle ground, small independent film. This is like this is
the big boys are out yep. And I remember being like, oh,
I've bade it, like I'm on my I'm leading a
really big feature and it was just incredible and surreal,
(53:04):
and I remember thinking like, this is this is what
I dreamed about, This is what I This was the dream,
This was the goal that I wanted to be an
actress on, like a real film, you know, a Hollywood
movie that I knew was people were going to see,
and and it just felt great and it was a
lot of fun, and like Jared Patalechi and Chad, Michael
(53:25):
Murray and Stilson. It was really it was a beautiful,
beautiful time and we had so much fun. We were
in Australia. We had a great time together.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
And another very physical sect.
Speaker 1 (53:36):
Oh my gosh, yes, very and a lot of stunts
and fire and of course.
Speaker 3 (53:42):
Wax, of course, yes.
Speaker 1 (53:45):
But yeah, it was a really it was really intense.
But I have to say I had a lot of fun.
I had the energy for it, and I was just yeah,
I wanted to like kick ass, and yeah it was good.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
Well after a four year hiatus, yeah, you are back
on screen for Prime videos every year after. Did you
feel at all rusty coming back or did it just
feel like the most natural thing ever?
Speaker 1 (54:11):
It was it was like a breath of fresh air,
like it felt so good. It did because I was
I was emotionally ready for it, and I didn't have
this burden of like I'm leaving my kids behind. And
that's why I had to take the time because after
I had after we had our first I was pregnant
(54:32):
throughout that on the ranch with Ashton Kutcher and I,
So I was pregnant, really pregnant for that, and then
had her while we were like filming and had to
go back and was like breastfeeding through film. Like it
was really hard to like juggle both of those worlds
for me. And then so when we had I was
(54:52):
on another film with Josh Jammel in Atlanta called Bandit,
and I found out I was pregnant on like while
we were there, and I thought, Okay, once this movie
is over, there's no way because I had such bad
morning sickness while we were filming that movie and I
just thought, no, no, no, no, I'm not doing this again,
like I can't, Like I just can't. And then so
(55:15):
what I thought was only going to be about a
year or two ended up turning into four. You know
how the years just sort of fly by. But then yeah,
and then when yeah, every year after it came around
and the project I started, you know, wrapping my head
around coming back to filming and being a part of
something again. And the show came about. I was like
(55:36):
I read the script and I thought, wow, well, how
perfect you know, sort of art imitating life in that
the Szoo character is such a maternal force for this show,
and I thought, wow, this is like the perfect back
introduction into coming back to work, and I just yeah,
I got to set, and that all all felt very
(55:59):
very natural, funny enough. That felt really good And I
didn't feel at a place or nothing felt awkward. It
just felt like it goes exactly where I was supposed
to be.
Speaker 3 (56:12):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2 (56:13):
That's a great feeling because you know, similarly to what
we talked about going back into an auditioning room.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
Yeah, that didn't feel good at all.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
Yeah, that didn't feel good. So knowing like showing up
on set and being.
Speaker 3 (56:23):
Like, ahh, this is right. I'm alostay.
Speaker 1 (56:27):
I never as much as I would I would always
have to like really prepare for auditions. I will say
I never was like the greatest at it to begin with.
So I think auditioning is always awkward, like taking that
much time off. I was like, oh, not so great
for me. But yeah, no, the set felt like, you know,
it's like my home. Yeah, it always felt that's always
(56:49):
felt like home. I've never felt uncomfortable on set.
Speaker 2 (56:52):
Good every year after began as a beloved romance novel,
especially within the book talk culture, were you will of
the rabid fandom and did it scare you a little
bit when you were trying to figure sue out. I mean,
you are obviously competing against what they've had in their
heads for all this time.
Speaker 1 (57:11):
And I think I always will be competing with what
people have in their heads because as an avid reader myself,
I feel the same way. I have a vision. But
it's funny. I don't know for people that read if
they feel this way. And maybe I'm alone on it,
but when I read, I have an idea, but it's
kind of fuzzy mine too.
Speaker 3 (57:30):
I couldn't agree with you more. Yeah, it's very It's
very like with a filter, a blurry filter.
Speaker 1 (57:34):
It's a blurry filter. I mean it's clear, but it's not. Yeah,
So I always like, let myself have a little grace
and that, like, I wouldn't be disappointed if so and
so played that character. But I will say I do
have I think I have a sort of an aesthetic
for it, but a blurred vision of it. But I
I will say, when I got the script, I then
(57:57):
found out that it was based on a novel by
Carl Fortune, and she's Canadian, and so even more so
I was really because being Canadian, I was like, oh
my gosh, I now that I know that i'm doing
the show, I'm going to read the book. So I
got the book and I was hooked, and I thought
it was so well written. I ended up reading the
(58:18):
next book based on the other son's character, Charlie's character,
and then I read all her other books. I went
into like this crazy fandom thing myself with Carly's novels. Yeah,
and then of course, because of my algorithm, I ended
up figuring out what book talk was, and so I've
got I do I do see and get a lot
(58:40):
of recommendations based on obviously liking all.
Speaker 3 (58:42):
That other stuff exactly.
Speaker 1 (58:44):
Yeah. But yeah, as far as like, sorry, your question
was the pressure, you know, I will say that I
did put a lot of pressure on myself because I
had a vision for her, Like I said, a little
blurry vision, but I did have a vision for her.
But my biggest thing was if if I could take
away anything from the novel, and what Sue meant to
(59:05):
me was that like she just had this like joy
and love and presence about her and everyone wanted to
be around her. Yeah, So I was just like, as
long as I can convey that and people feel like
they love Sue, then I feel like I've done a
good job, so I hope. I hope they feel that
and that passion I have for her from reading it.
Speaker 3 (59:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (59:27):
Good, Well, I can't wait to see it. I haven't
seen it yet, but I can't.
Speaker 1 (59:30):
Oh my gosh, the perfect summer show You're gonna love.
Speaker 3 (59:33):
I cannot wait, and I want to read all the
Should I read the books first? Though?
Speaker 2 (59:37):
Because I do love to read, So I'm wondering, like,
should I watch and then read?
Speaker 1 (59:42):
I will discourage you from reading first, but I will
say I would maybe watch it because then the book
you'll kind of know where the story goes, and there
might be some spoilers, got it? So maybe I just
watch and then. But what I will say is, why
don't you watch this season and then read the next
book which takes Pasey. Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
Perfect, Great, I'll start. I'll start first with watching, then
I'll read the.
Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
Next time and then read Meet Me at the Leak.
Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
Yes, Okay, good plan.
Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
I've got so much more to talk to Alicia about,
including her time on one of my favorite shows to
ever air on TV, Happy Endings, and one of our
listener voice memos, So make sure to catch a bonus
episode this Friday exclusively on the dedicated teen Beat feed.
Just search for it wherever you get your podcasts so
you never miss another episode. And I need your voice memos.
(01:00:30):
Send in a one minute clip telling us all about
something embarrassing from your childhood and we'll talk about it.
Email it today to Teenbeatpod at gmail dot com. Teenbeat
is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel.
Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge
of production Danielle Romo, producer and editor Tara Suboch. The
(01:00:51):
theme song is by mar Coppus. Yes that Mark Coppus.
Follow us on Instagram at Teenbeatpod
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