Post by Galleria on Dec 3, 2005 2:34:34 GMT -5
IML: How are you different from the Raven we see on TV? How are you similar?
Raven: Raven Baxter is so excited and happy and kind of crazy, and I’m not that way. If you find me on one of my off days, I’m probably asleep at my house. I mind my own business, I kind of stay to myself. The ways we’re similar? We both love fashion. But I’ll wear sweats to anything if I’m allowed to.
IML: Do you have any favorite That’s So Raven episodes?
Raven: I really like the episode where I played the plumber. And there’s an episode called “Country Cousins” where I played three characters in the same room together. It was actually very challenging; you have to remember everything you did with the character so you can react the right way. It showed me that I love to do this kind of work.
IML: Are you friends with the rest of the cast? Do you hang out off screen?
Raven: We are friends. We hung out a lot more the first and second season when we weren’t all that busy and the show was just starting up. Now we don’t hang out as much but there’s still love for us all. We’ll help each other, like a family does.
IML: If you could have any other power, what would it be?
Raven: To be an alchemist -- to turn things into gold!
IML: You’ve been acting since you were three years old. Do you ever feel like you’ve missed out on anything?
Raven: Nope. I went to public school, elementary through high school. I went to homecoming, to football games, pep rallies, I got detention, I got an F. I’ve done it all.
IML: An F! What subject was that in?
Raven: Algebra. That’s because I was out on tour and my math teacher didn’t send me my work. But I went to summer school and I got an A in the class. The only time I got bad grades was when the work got lost in the mail.
IML: What are your memories of middle school?
Raven: The cheerleaders eyeing me up and down in the hallway, everywhere I went. We didn’t get along.
IML: Did you have trouble with bullies back then?
Raven: Yeah. Let’s just say that I don’t take bullying for too long. I retaliate after a while. I kill them with kindness for as long as possible until they hit that button, and then…here’s my thing: when I went to school I was really nice to everyone. It wasn’t my fault that people didn’t like me. Before I started at the school, the principal came on the intercom and said, “We have a new student. She was on The Cosby Show and Hanging with Mr. Cooper, and if you ask for her autograph you’ll get detention.” The whole school thought that I was the one that told him to say that. I get there and there’d be people eyeing me before they even knew me. So I would stick to myself. I wasn’t that popular.
IML: That must have been rough!
Raven: Yes, it was. So I sat with what they called the outcasts -- they weren’t really outcasts, they just weren’t popular. We sat in the lunchroom together. After like four years people did warm up to me, but there would always be some people who, if I didn’t talk to them, would be like, “You’re acting that way because you’re on television.” I’m like, “You don’t know me, so don’t pull out that card!” It’s not cool, because I’m not like that. If I wasn’t on television I’d be the same person.
IML: What were the good things about school? Did you have any great teachers?
Raven: I did. I was kind of a nerd and I actually enjoyed my teachers a lot more than I enjoyed the people. My favorites were Miss Yost in 8th grade and Miss Maxwell, my homeroom teacher. Actually, after all those years, she came to Disney World and saw me perform. It was a total surprise and it was great.
IML: Who are your role models?
Raven: Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson. No matter what problems they go through, you can’t overlook their talent.
IML: Do you think the media puts too much pressure on kids to look a certain way?
Raven: Yes, definitely.
IML: How can kids, especially young girls, resist that pressure?
Raven: It’s very hard. It’s years and years of images in their faces of what you’re supposed to be. You’re supposed to have blonde hair, perfect skin, all this stuff to get a guy or have success in the world, and it’s very hard to get out of that. It’s important for young people to know that they are made the way they are made and they’re beautiful and that’s how they’re supposed to be. Everyone goes through that stage of having acne or their haircut not being right. But don’t stress, don’t try to copy someone else because then you won’t be yourself and you won’t be happy. You have to look inside yourself to find who you’re supposed to be. You can take things from other people -- I love Janet Jackson, so I might take her style, but I would never change my whole body or self to be like her. That would mean I was unhappy with myself. You have to realize that even people who are in magazines and on television are probably more insecure than you are, because they’re getting pressure from the people who sign their checks. You have to stay strong.
IML: How do you handle it?
Raven: I say, “I’m happy with who I am and I’m not going to kill myself to make you happy.” Then they realize, “She’s really comfortable with herself.” When I was younger there was no one on television who looked like me and I had no one to look up to. It wasn’t fair, because I’m pretty too. I’m beautiful just how I am, no matter if I’m a size 2 or a size 12. There are shows on television that are showing kids that you have to have plastic surgery to be beautiful and I think that’s a really bad message. Kids watch that stuff and the younger you are, the more you believe it and want to do it. There are a lot of people out there that are not a size 2 and it’s not fair when they go to a store and they think they’re fat.
Raven: Raven Baxter is so excited and happy and kind of crazy, and I’m not that way. If you find me on one of my off days, I’m probably asleep at my house. I mind my own business, I kind of stay to myself. The ways we’re similar? We both love fashion. But I’ll wear sweats to anything if I’m allowed to.
IML: Do you have any favorite That’s So Raven episodes?
Raven: I really like the episode where I played the plumber. And there’s an episode called “Country Cousins” where I played three characters in the same room together. It was actually very challenging; you have to remember everything you did with the character so you can react the right way. It showed me that I love to do this kind of work.
IML: Are you friends with the rest of the cast? Do you hang out off screen?
Raven: We are friends. We hung out a lot more the first and second season when we weren’t all that busy and the show was just starting up. Now we don’t hang out as much but there’s still love for us all. We’ll help each other, like a family does.
IML: If you could have any other power, what would it be?
Raven: To be an alchemist -- to turn things into gold!
IML: You’ve been acting since you were three years old. Do you ever feel like you’ve missed out on anything?
Raven: Nope. I went to public school, elementary through high school. I went to homecoming, to football games, pep rallies, I got detention, I got an F. I’ve done it all.
IML: An F! What subject was that in?
Raven: Algebra. That’s because I was out on tour and my math teacher didn’t send me my work. But I went to summer school and I got an A in the class. The only time I got bad grades was when the work got lost in the mail.
IML: What are your memories of middle school?
Raven: The cheerleaders eyeing me up and down in the hallway, everywhere I went. We didn’t get along.
IML: Did you have trouble with bullies back then?
Raven: Yeah. Let’s just say that I don’t take bullying for too long. I retaliate after a while. I kill them with kindness for as long as possible until they hit that button, and then…here’s my thing: when I went to school I was really nice to everyone. It wasn’t my fault that people didn’t like me. Before I started at the school, the principal came on the intercom and said, “We have a new student. She was on The Cosby Show and Hanging with Mr. Cooper, and if you ask for her autograph you’ll get detention.” The whole school thought that I was the one that told him to say that. I get there and there’d be people eyeing me before they even knew me. So I would stick to myself. I wasn’t that popular.
IML: That must have been rough!
Raven: Yes, it was. So I sat with what they called the outcasts -- they weren’t really outcasts, they just weren’t popular. We sat in the lunchroom together. After like four years people did warm up to me, but there would always be some people who, if I didn’t talk to them, would be like, “You’re acting that way because you’re on television.” I’m like, “You don’t know me, so don’t pull out that card!” It’s not cool, because I’m not like that. If I wasn’t on television I’d be the same person.
IML: What were the good things about school? Did you have any great teachers?
Raven: I did. I was kind of a nerd and I actually enjoyed my teachers a lot more than I enjoyed the people. My favorites were Miss Yost in 8th grade and Miss Maxwell, my homeroom teacher. Actually, after all those years, she came to Disney World and saw me perform. It was a total surprise and it was great.
IML: Who are your role models?
Raven: Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson. No matter what problems they go through, you can’t overlook their talent.
IML: Do you think the media puts too much pressure on kids to look a certain way?
Raven: Yes, definitely.
IML: How can kids, especially young girls, resist that pressure?
Raven: It’s very hard. It’s years and years of images in their faces of what you’re supposed to be. You’re supposed to have blonde hair, perfect skin, all this stuff to get a guy or have success in the world, and it’s very hard to get out of that. It’s important for young people to know that they are made the way they are made and they’re beautiful and that’s how they’re supposed to be. Everyone goes through that stage of having acne or their haircut not being right. But don’t stress, don’t try to copy someone else because then you won’t be yourself and you won’t be happy. You have to look inside yourself to find who you’re supposed to be. You can take things from other people -- I love Janet Jackson, so I might take her style, but I would never change my whole body or self to be like her. That would mean I was unhappy with myself. You have to realize that even people who are in magazines and on television are probably more insecure than you are, because they’re getting pressure from the people who sign their checks. You have to stay strong.
IML: How do you handle it?
Raven: I say, “I’m happy with who I am and I’m not going to kill myself to make you happy.” Then they realize, “She’s really comfortable with herself.” When I was younger there was no one on television who looked like me and I had no one to look up to. It wasn’t fair, because I’m pretty too. I’m beautiful just how I am, no matter if I’m a size 2 or a size 12. There are shows on television that are showing kids that you have to have plastic surgery to be beautiful and I think that’s a really bad message. Kids watch that stuff and the younger you are, the more you believe it and want to do it. There are a lot of people out there that are not a size 2 and it’s not fair when they go to a store and they think they’re fat.