Interview BackStage

Charlotte Arnold: A Back Stage Exclusive

"I really love making TV," says Charlotte Arnold, and she would know.  She's a seasoned veteran performer at age twenty.

Charlotte currently stars as Holly J. on "Degrassi: The Next Generation," the self-proclaimed "most authentic teen drama on television" that is now in it's tenth season. Degrassi has taken it up a notch by shooting 'telenovela' style, with new episodes airing nightly all summer on TeenNick.

A native of Toronto, Charlotte exhibits a level of normalcy you probably need to live in Canada to maintain. Wise beyond her years, she just finished her third year at Ryerson University where she's studying journalism, and is a devoted fan of Leonard Cohen.

Chosen as this week's Actor2Watch, Charlotte will be featured in a series or articles, fun facts and social media tweets through this week for subscribers of Girl2Watch.com.

Actor2Watch: When did you start acting?

Charlotte Arnold: I was four when I started modeling. My mom was very much an off-the-stage mom who knew nothing about the business. She married my stepdad when I was about four, and he had been an actor. Because I was a really smiley kid and could read, which is something they're always looking for, she just decided to give it a shot.

I got with my dad's old agency, and really, no expectations. It just evolved from there. I started modeling, doing the Sears catalog kind of thing, then did a lot of commercials when I was growing up. 

I remember my first commercial. This is really great Degrassi trivia: The character Toby on "Degrassi," played by Jake Goldsbie, he and I were in both of our first commercial ever when we were four. It was for Tiger Toys, this old Game Boy-type thing. Both of our lines were, "Mommy, I can do it!"

Then when I got a bit older, I started doing some TV movies, and got my first series when I was 13 or 14, which was "Naturally, Sadie," which showed on Disney. Then "Degrassi" came right when "Sadie" ended. I did three seasons of "Sadie" and tried out for "Degrassi." It was my third time trying out for the show. I'd tried out in season one, four, and then seven. Now it's my fourth season of the show. 

A2W: What was you high school experience like?

CA: It was tough. Being on TV brings a sort of attention in high school that can be negative sometimes. People, immediately they're going to have that in their back pocket.  If they don't like you, they're going to be able to pull that out and throw it in your face.  But as you get older, you realize how to be proud of who you are and what you've done, whatever it is, and take any of that criticism and just let it roll off your back.

A2W:  Tell us about the 'Telenovela'-style shooting on "Degrassi" this season.

CA: We have a little meet-and-greet at the beginning of every season to get the plan for the year. Everyone heard that there was going to be this crazy work schedule, and they hyped it up like it was going to be a lot of work.

Really for us actors, the only difference that I've noticed is it seems like we had a lot of downtime before, because things just move really quickly now. You do less takes, so you have to know what you're going to be doing—especially since we're doing four-episode story arcs. We shoot four episodes at a time instead of two now. It's a lot to keep straight. But for the most part, it hasn't been longer days or more pressure. 

They shoot 7:30 to 7:30 every day, no matter what. From a script-reading perspective, different storylines that used to have to play out over two episodes and have a neat, tidy ending, there's more room to let things breathe and spread out, and relationships develop slower. That's just been nice to flesh out storylines.

A2W: Do you get recognized a lot?

CA: I come from Toronto, and we don't have the same sort of star system. It's a lot more like laid back, and people are used to seeing you on the subway. Honestly, there are like two photographers, and you know them both by name.

A2W: How do you remain grounded?

CA: You need normalcy, and you need a family that's going to keep you firmly on the ground. There are even people who I know in Toronto who are unbearably diva-like. I look at that and think, "You look ridiculous. People don't want to spend time with you."

It's funny being here (in the U.S.), all the different people we meet who are involved in the industry, they're so used to having people make demands. They're rushing to please you.  Ray (her co-star Raymond Ablack) and I are just like, "We'll take what we can get. We're happy to be here."

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