Your career has been expansive and ever-growing. Is there something, a particular genre of arts, that you would like to do that you haven't done yet?
I think the biggest passion of mine currently is producing. My sister and I actually have been able to kind of dip our feet in that. We produced a film together about a year ago. But I'd like to do more of that, whether it's finding material from a book that we fell in love with, and end up optioning, or even creating something from the ground up, whether it's for a television or film. Still of course in the entertainment world, kind of behind the scenes, which I think would be really fun. I'd also love to do some stage work. I'm hoping to do some theatre in the next couple of years. But right now, mainly just focusing on continuing to write music and work on Steven [Universe] and The Goldbergs. I'm really enjoying that, so to add more is kind of scary at this point.
How did you get involved in The Goldbergs, as you are now promoted to regular cast?
I've actually known the creator of the show for a few years now, and we've been good friends. When the show first started airing, he was like "Hey, you know, there's this character we've been talking about called Lainey, and we really want to cast this character. Would you be interested in playing this role, we've already mentioned her but we haven't seen her yet?". I already was a fan of the show- I adore Adam, I love his writing, I think he's really smart. I love that it's based on his life as a kid, and I said "Absolutely I'll be a part of this.".
So I started on the show as a recurring, and I did two seasons, and it was kind of the matter of "Well, you're kind of part of the family now, dating Barry Goldberg", and it just made sense to make me part of the regular casting. And it was a really, really cool opportunity for me. The past two years, I'm feeling more part of the family. I'm really honoured to be a part of the show.
What's the typical shooting day like?
We do one episode in five days. And we always get weekends off. It's a pretty nice schedule- I mean, definitely there are days where it's quite long, it can be up to fifteen, sixteen hours. But usually our days are about twelve hours on set, so I'll start really early in the morning. I'll get in my 80s wardrobe and I'll get my 80s hair and make-up, and then from there we'll start rehearsing. We usually shoot about ten pages a day, which can take up to twelve to fifteen hours.
I ask a question a little later on…
Aly & AJ and 78Violet was the soundtrack to my childhood. I loved seeing you in The Goldbergs. My question to you is have you always enjoyed the art of acting and singing, and what motivated you to continually aim for success?
You are an inspiration to a lot of people, and what do you say to them?
Thanks, that's such a nice question, and statement. So, I probably started my love for singing and acting when I was about nine years old. I really knew this is what I wanted to do. It sounds crazy, but I think you really do know at a young age.
I started singing in church mainly, when I was growing up in Seattle. So I would either sing duets with my mom or my sister, or trios, all together, and we usually harmonize in church services or school plays. And I think from an early age, I just knew that this is what I wanted to do. And, funny enough, a workshop flier for an acting school came across my mom's desk. And I remember coming across it and looking and saying "Oh my gosh, this is what I wanna do.".
It was basically to do a month-long workshop, kind of learn about the certain techniques and behind the scenes and how exactly it works to shoot a commercial, or how it works to shoot a TV series, and just kind of get some of the basics down. And from there, there were scouts and it ended up being a legitimate thing. From there, I found my agent, and it happened to really make sense, and work, and it was done in a really genuine way.
But I would say, anyone that's really trying to push through the arts, I think just lessons, study, learn, read, take classes. Do as much hard work as you can. Some of it is going to happen by luck, and some of it is really going to be a lot of hard work and perseverance. So, manage to just keep going, and there's a lot of rejection but that's okay. You'll get over it, and it's not the end of the world. And I think when you love it, it's a true passion, then nothing can really stop you.
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