Hey TWIST readers!
We just finished chatting with Rachel Fox, who plays Ryder's not-so-nice girlfriend, Holly Reback on ABC Family's Melissa & Joey! Rachel told us all about all the fun she has on the Melissa & Joey set, her favorite audition moment, and how she dealt with mean girls in junior high! Make sure to catch Rachel on Melissa & Joey, premiering May 30th at 8 P.M. on ABC Family!
Click here for our exclusive interview with Rachel Fox
XOXO, TWIST
Photo Credit: Courtesy of JSquared Photography
TWIST: Here at TWIST, we love Melissa & Joey! What can we expect from the season premiere?
Rachel Fox: You can definitely expect more of that hilarious and wonderful chemistry going on between Melissa[Joan Heart] and Joey [Lawrence]. From my character Holly, there will be a bit of twist for her. I can't give away too much, but her character changes from this bossy, overbearing girl she used to be. She goes through a little bit of therapy and comes out as a different woman! T: What is it like to play Holly?
RF: Well it's an extremely fun thing to do. I love it! I think it's just like playing any other character. You just nail down who they are and what they do, what their character traits are and just incorporate that into everything that they do, everything that they are, their cadence, the way their body language [is]... everything! Then that just becomes the character. That's pretty much what I did with Holly. From day one I just nailed her down as this strong and demanding girl, but she's sweet. Playing a character that takes control is a lot of fun. It really is. I also have a lot of fun interacting with Nick Robinson, who plays Ryder, my boyfriend. We have a fantastic time playing off of each other.
T: Are you similar to Holly or totally different?
RF: I think I am like Holly in that I like to be strong and I like to take control of situations and I can tend to be a dominant female. Holly definitely takes it to an extreme level, which is fine. That's who she is. But I'm definitely different. I'm not quite that extreme in my taking control over things.
T: Have you ever had to deal with someone like Holly?
RF: In middle school a lot I remember girls would try to push this whole relationship thing in the other girls' faces. You had to have a boyfriend to be cool and you had to talk all about kissing and all this stuff in order to be anything. Those kinds of girls who were trying to set this wall and this idea that that was like the bar. If you didn't have a boyfriend, you weren't cool. Me and my friends weren't like that back in middle school. We were just girls who were enjoying life, hanging out and having fun. The center of our world wasn't boys at the time. We stood our ground and we were strong. We were not going to be pushed into having boyfriends and kissing guys before we really wanted to and you know what? It worked out for the better.
T: That's so cool! How did you get into acting?
RF: It's funny actually, my mom always wanted me to be really great at public speaking. When I was living back in Ohio, she put my sisters and I in these theater classes so that we would be really comfortable standing up in front of groups of people and being great public speakers. It was funny because my sister did the theater and she liked it but for me doing theater and actually putting on a performance and being in character, I fell in love with it. T: Do you have a favorite audition experience?
RF: My favorite audition story ever was when I auditioned for Desperate Housewives. I had to go in three different times and it was the final round of callbacks, there were three other girls and me. I was about ten or eleven years old at the time. I went into the room and I we were about to read the scenes and before that I was like 'What's new? What's going on?' and they're like 'Oh nothing, what's new with you?' and I said 'Oh nothing. Well actually I just lost my tooth.' So what I did was I pulled this tooth that I lost and I pulled it out of my mouth and I showed it to them. Then I just tucked it back into place. I don't even know what gave me the idea to do that, but I was just ten years old and I wanted to show them my lost tooth! T: Maybe they thought you were acting!
RF: Haha, maybe! I guess it's just that human element. People just want to know that you're human and that you're just having fun and just being a kid!
T: What's the vibe like on the Melissa & Joey set?
RF: The atmosphere on set is always fun. Joey is just constantly breaking out into song and dance. Joey is always the last one to come out of his dressing room. I don't know why. One time we were waiting a while for him to come out and so Taylor [Spreitler], Nick and I all grab our Nerf guns that we just keep with us on set. So we all got our Nerf guns and we snuck outside of his door, so the moment he walked out we just shot him with the Nerf guns and went crazy. It was a lot of fun! T: He's probably on the lookout now!
RF: Yeah! Every time he comes out of his dressing room he's got bodyguards! T: Thank you for speaking with TWIST today Rachel!
RF: Of course! Thank you, TWIST!
