Christy Carlson Romano is not your average twenty-six year old. She has already spent two decades conquering show business, finding success in theater, film, and television. A former Disney kid, she was nominated for an Emmy for her role in the TV series "Kim Possible" and is also well known for her role alongside Shia Labeouf in "Even Stevens". On the stage Romano has appeared in the original Broadway productions of Avenue Q, Beauty and the Beast, and Parade. Now, at twenty-six she is the youngest cast member of White's Lies, alongside the likes of Tuc Watkins, Peter Scolari and Betty Buckley. Romano took time out from her busy schedule to chat with us about her comfort on the stage, her passion for her work, and her love of comedy.
BWW: You started acting when you were very young. How has it been transitioning from child actress to adult?
CCR: It's been really interesting. Recently I played a bunch of parts that were bad girls, I'm trying to do different parts and flex my acting muscle. With the part I'm doing in Whites Lies, she's still young, she's only twenty-two, and so I feel like I am going to back to my roots playing a good girl. But this time she has permission to be sexy and funny. It's an adult play but I am playing a younger girl so I guess that is appropriate. Younger actors who are transitioning all feel the need to prove something to everybody about being able to play older parts and everything, I've definitely done a few Indie films, I have a film coming out, a Fox Searchlight Film called Mirrors 2, it's a horror movie coming out in October. There's a shower scene in it for me so, there you go!
Do you feel that it's important to do something radical like that to distance yourself from the past?
CCR: I don't know if it's that so much as it is wanting to do different types of things. You do the same thing or play the same part and you don't have anything to prove, you just get lazy. I want to challenge myself; I love what I do and I love acting, so as I get older I have more questions and I don't want to be satisfied just being successful as a child actor, I want to grow. Even when I was working for Disney I was also doing theater and now I'm just amping it up with harder parts. I was only six when I first started, and I started in the theater.
So you really have already made that leap.
CCR: I hope so! I'm learning that as an actress you are constantly evolving and you must continue to leap and change, I'm finding that out as I get older.
How has the transition been between TV, movies, and theater?
CCR: Well it is a lot harder doing theater because you don't get to say "cut" and have another take, like the other day they gave me a paragraph that I had to learn and do within 24 hours and I was like, "okay, I'm game for that!" You really look at it like it's your life. With TV shows you become a family with the people you work with and then when it's over it's over. And that's kind of a weird thing. But with theater it's a much more personal experience and you have to be much more committed to your play.
Talk to me about White's Lies. How has it been working with professionals who are very well known and been in the buisiness for so long?
CCR: It's been amazing! I mean, I am actually going on twenty years of professional acting, so I have been in there a long time, I guess you can say it's a different embodiment of professionalism. But with Peter Scolari and Betty Buckley and Tuc Watkins, they are all really good people and very, very talented, but when we come together we create this really fun dynamic for the play. I feel that we are all very well cast for the show. I am having a blast with all of them and I learned so much from Betty Buckley, just about creating characters and creating a character for myself... she is just a really great actress.
So you feel that you all work well as one cohesive unit?
CCR: Totally, yes. I feel like we are a team.
It comes across when watching you guys.
CCR: Oh yeah, it's like we are passing the ball to each other so it's like a relay race. If someone drops the ball then someone else has to pick it up and keep going. At the pace of this show it is very specific. You need to have to have a great pace because that's how you keep people laughing. It takes a lot of energy. Peter Scolari is an absolute master when it comes to pacing, so I am learning a lot about that too. A lot of people say that White's Lies is almost like a sitcom, but it really has a heart to it. So it is up to us as the actors to show that. Otherwise we are just playing these fake characters, so that's what we've been struggling with, but at the same time I think that the play is really finding its heart.
