Jessica Szohr really needs no introduction because, whether you’re an in-the-closet follower of Gossip Girl, an obsessed fan that stands outside of every NYC taping (yes, they do have them) or someone who adamantly insists you don’t watch “teen dramas,” she has become a New York City staple via her show, which became a hit almost the second it debuted. Most may know her as Vanessa and, though that’s not her real name, Jessica walks into a room exuding a personality just as down-to-earth and friendly as we see her on TV. The Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin native sat down to chat with YRB about her start in Hollywood, the domination of Gossip Girl and why she promises to never start a music career.
YRB: Was acting something you always wanted to pursue? How did you end up here coming from a village in Wisconsin?
Jessica: No, actually it wasn’t. I had done some catalogue modeling when I was little and then I started working in Chicago and had an agent in New York, and one of my agents along the way while I was in high school was like, “You should go try a pilot season.” But I’m the oldest of five kids, so my mom never could really take me; I wasn’t old enough to go on my own. So when I was old enough to do it on my own, I was like I might as well try it, so I graduated high school a semester early and I thought I was only gonna go to L.A. for five months. I was enrolled to Columbia in Chicago, and I’m like, “Ok, I’ll go have fun with it and start school when I’m supposed to.” And then I went to L.A. and I didn’t leave. I took an acting class with a really good acting coach named Howard Fine and that’s when I fell in love with acting.
YRB: Are there a lot of similarities between yourself and your Gossip Girl character, Vanessa?
Jessica: Um… I mean, yeah there are. Our styles are very different – I would say she’s very funkdafied, I’m much more simple than she is. For me, she’s the most relatable. She is the only one that has a normal job; she’s not growing up on the Upper East Side with $2000 handbags and limos taking her to school.
YRB: If you had the opportunity, is there anything you would change about Vanessa’s character?
Jessica: I’m excited because it’s happening this season, the third season. I was getting a little bit – not upset – but she’s a good loyal person, which is amazing, but I was kind of over her constantly being there for Nate and constantly being the good girlfriend and constantly helping these kids out and then always getting shitted on. So, I was like, she needs to step it up and be that girl from Brooklyn!
YRB: Have you ever had any real life Gossip Girl-like experiences?
Jessica: Yeah, I mean, I always think there’s drama in high school. Um, there was a group of girls that weren’t very nice and I got toilet papered and egged once, and it was like “Model my ass” in ketchup on my dad’s car. I don’t think it was as intense as Gossip Girl, but when that happened to me it was very hurtful.
YRB: Just reading the script for the show you can see how gossiping can spin out of control – how do you feel about finding yourself in the tabloids and as the center of real gossip now?
Jessica: Three things – I try not to look at them, I let things in one ear and out the other when I do hear about them, and I just take it day by day. You can’t take that stuff too seriously, and at the end of the day we’re all normal people. You know, it’s not the coolest thing that people like to put you under a magnifying glass and pick you apart, but if that’s what’s going on with us we just kinda gotta go with it. I love [acting] to tell a story, to give people a break, to be entertaining whether it’s for an hour on a TV show or a two-hour movie, so you never really expect this kind of situation with tabloids, with paparazzi, with photo shoots and all this craziness, ‘cause you’re just doing it to tell a story basically. So when a show does hit like this and becomes a pop culture show with fans all over, you don’t really know how to take it. You can’t really plan for something like this.
YRB: When you joined the cast of Gossip Girl, did you think it would become this influential with so many people? And why do you think it has?
Jessica: I remember seeing the pilot before I came out to do the show, and I remember thinking the music was on point, the energy of the city and all the fashion, and I thought all the actors were totally bringing their game. I was like, “Wow, I think that show’s gonna do well.” There was just something edgy, catchy, cool. And even though the lifestyle that they live is not so relatable to many people, the consequences and the problems and the relationships that everyone on the show goes through is what people go through – parents divorcing and passing away, your first love and breakups, best friends and getting in fights and backstabbing and all that kind of stuff.
YRB: The NY fashion and party scene is such an integral part of the show – is that something that tends to carry over into your personal lives?
Jessica: Um, definitely the fashion part has. In Wisconsin I’d go rummaging with my grandma and my mom and vintage shop and things like that, and coming here I definitely have opened my eyes to a lot more designers and focused a lot more on fashion than I ever have in the past. The parties…yeah, it’s different here with parties and stuff too, there’s a lot more events here than there are other places… You can be social in a lot of ways here.
YRB: You have a new movie coming out, Piranha 3-D. Tell us about that.
Jessica: I think it’s coming out March 10, [2010], and we filmed it in Lake Havasu, AZ for two months, which was ridiculously hot. It was cool to shoot on a boat and be able to be in and out of water, but working on a lake is eerie and dark and we were trying to, you know, get away from piranhas so it was a little creepy sometimes. It was fun; it was nice to get out of the cement jungle for a little bit. It went from, like, crazy NYC cabs and people everywhere to the middle of the desert, so that was kind of a big change. It’s the remake of the 1970’s [movie], and I think it’s gonna be pretty scary.
YRB: What would you say would be your ideal role?
Jessica: Oooo, lots of stuff, everything! I think to play a parent ‘cause I’d have to do so much research, a crazy drug addict would be fun. It’s fun just to do a back-story and figure out who a character is and become them. Playing someone in the political office would be cool. (Laughing) Playing Johnny Depp’s wife!
YRB: Are you working on any other projects? Do you see yourself headed into a music career like some of your other co-stars?
Jessica: We’ll see what happens with other projects when I have a break… To be completely honest, if I tried to do an album or sing I think they would stop music all together. I’m very into music; I’m into the whole indie rock band thing, going to see small shows. But it’s just not for me to try to be a singer by any means.
YRB: Being that this is our “Power” issue, who do you think are some of the most powerful women in the industry?
Jessica: As an actress, I would say Meryl Streep seems pretty powerful. She’s so amazing at what she does; she’s deserved every Oscar nomination that she’s had. I think in the fashion world, Anna Wintour – she runs the fashion world. Singing, I would say Madonna. She’s been in it for so long, she kills it…and brings something new to each album.
YRB: And what do you think it takes to get that powerful status?
Jessica: Hard work, faith. I think faith in life is just good, to have something to believe in and go for. Also, doing what makes you happy. There’s no point in living a life if you’re not going home every night with a smile on your face.
