(Nov. 2007) PCM's Erin gabbed with Janel Parrish
about the holidays, her time performing on Broadway and
the Bratz movie. Check out the juicy transcript below!
E: Hi Janel! How are you?
J: Good and you?
E: Good! So you're in California right
now?
J: Yes, I am.
E: Did you have a nice holiday?
J: Yes I did, I had dinner with my parents.
I helped make the turkey and the pumpkin pie.
E: Can you cook?
J: (Laughing) No really. Not really
well.
E: Yeah me neither. Did you get to go back
to Hawaii or did you have the holiday in California?
J: I had the holiday in California. A lot
of my family is out in Hawaii, but I only get to go back
once a year.
E: So you have sampled the music and the
acting scene, which one do you like better?
J: Ohh… they both are so different, I love
them both so much, I can't really choose one over the other.
I can't see my self doing one without the other.
E: So what about piano, you started out
doing that right?
J: I started playing the piano when I was
six years old and I started writing music. Piano goes hand
in hand with me singing, everything I'm singing I'm usually
at my piano.
E: Awesome! Do you have an album coming
out? I saw your first music video on You Tube.
J: Aw thank you so much. Yes I do have an
album coming out. I'm with Geffen records and my album should
be coming out some time next year.
E: That's so exciting, so are you in the
process of working on that now?
J: Yes I'm writing right now and I will be
in the studio shortly
E: Wow you're a busy girl!
J: It's so exciting and so unexpected I'm
enjoying every minute of it!
E: Oh that's great! Did you have ideas
of what you wanted to be before you decided to be in the
entertainment industry?
J: No because I decided to be in the entertainment
industry when I was like 5. Phantom of the Opera came to
the theater in Hawaii and I went to go see it and I just
feel in love with it. I told my parents I wanted to be on
stage. And then I ended up being on Broadway so music was
always been a huge part of my life and acting followed after
that.
E: So what were you in on Broadway?
J: I was in Les Miserable.
E: Very cool, definitely one of my favorites.
J: Me too. I just loved it so much.
E: When did you decided to make the big
move to L.A.?
J: Well I was going back and forth from Hawaii
to L.A. for auditions and then I began to spend the whole
summer out here. So I guess five years ago when I was 14
my parent said "since we've been spending so much time
out here and this is what you really want to do" we'll
move here for you.
E: Do you have any brothers and sisters
that come with you?
J: I have an older sister she's in the army.
E: I just saw The Bratz Movie.
J: Aw did you like it.
E: I did. How did you like it?
J: It was so much fun, the best experience
ever. I made some amazing best friends and it was a really
fun set. It was a really fun movie and I had a great time
making it.
E: That's awesome, was there any drama
on the set? Did everyone get along?
J: Surprisingly yes. You would think that
there would be drama with 5 girls. But honestly their was
no drama at all. They were the easies group of girls to
get along with. We were very lucky and we all became best
friends
E: Do you keep in touch?
J: Yes we talk all the time.
E: Did you get to go to High School? Or
did you take classes on the rode?
J: I went to a year of Public School in Hawaii
and then moved out here after and then I've been home schooling.
E: Do you think The Bratz had any kind
of relation to your High School?
J: Definitely, I think that there are always
cliques and there is always that one mean girl, in everyone's
High School. And it everyone's life so Bratz was very realistic
for me. The Bratz was definitely a exaggerated form of High
School, but it does have a lot of similarities to Bratz.
E: Awesome. So I heard you are helping
to send for girls to college? What's that about?
J: It's a scholarship contest and basically
what it is, all the girls send in essays saying why they
are passionate about their life and what they are going
to do with their passion. And we will pick 4 winner and
we are giving up to 50, 000 dollars in scholarships.
E: That's great. So you are also doing
a lot on TV. What was your favorite show to work on?
J: Well Heroes was pretty overwhelming to
be on since I love that show. It was my dream to be on that
show. But Zoey 101 was pretty fun because it was a goofy
fun and over the top, and I got quail legged and I'm sure
that will never ever happen again ever in my life.
E: So on Heroes were your episodes air
already?
J: Yes I was on two episodes so far.
E: And Kristyn here would like to know,
you were the cheerleader right?
J: Yes yes but I was the nice cheerleader
though. There was a mean cheerleader and a nice one and
I got to play the nice one.
E: What was the cast like on Heroes? Did
you get to meet the whole cast?
J: I so wanted to meet Milo but he was never
there when I was. But I got to meet Hayden and she's a really
sweet girl. And I meet Adair who plays Molly and she it
just the cutest thing ever, you would never believe that
she is only 9; she acts like a thirty year old in the body
of a little girl.
E: So what's next? Just working on your
album? Do you have any movies or TV shows coming up?
J: I'm auditioning currently for one of them,
my fingers are crossed
E: That's great. We wish you luck.
J: Thanks! But yeah I'm definitely working
on my album. I just did a video with for NLP, She Said,
I Said, I was featured in it and that was really fun.
And they were on out soundtrack so I got to meet them and
I was like "ah I love you guys" They are awesome
E: So what kind of sound is your album
gonna have?
J: Most of my stuff is piano based, I write
almost all my own music. But I'm a dancer as well so put
some stuff on that I can dance too. So it's got a different
sound its like piano meets cool beats.
E: Well that's good I think a lot of variety
on albums is a good thing it helps you to relate you lots
of audiences.
J: Yes and I like to listen you my favorite
artists and learn from them and take from them.
E: Who are some of you favorite artists?
J: I love people who write there own music
like Robin Thick, Jon McLaughlin, Jewel, Sarah McLaughlin
and of course John Legend.
E: We were actually checking out your myspace
today and saw that you had Beautiful Disaster on there.
Now do you do your own MySpace?
J: I actually do my own MySpace. I answer
all my fan mail, I love the fans.
E: So when you're not working what else
do you do for fun?
J: I like to hang out with my friends, I like
to go hiking and going to Six Flags and riding rollercoaster's
and going shopping.
E: And do you have a lot of free time?
You must be pretty busy?
J: I'm not that busy on the weekends, so I
hang out with my friends then and then during the week I
do whatever I have to do with my songs and auditions and
dance classes and all that.
E: Well that's all we have. But thank you
so much for talking with us!
J: Thanks! It was nice talking with you
E: Thanks you too! Take care!
J: You too