Interview with Larisa Oleynik
By Vivian Rose
"I'm a normal person and I don't have superpowers! I do normal things, too," announced Larisa Oleynik who plays Alex Mack - a girl who can zap people, float things and "morph" into a puddle - on Nickelodeon's top rated series "The Secret World of Alex Mack".
Now that you know Larisa Oleynik is a normal person, you'll be curious about her normal life away from the set - in her freshman year of high school. "At first I was scared starting high school," Oleynik admitted. Due to the filming of "The Secret World of Alex Mack," she started high school late and had to make new friends. She claims that she's "branching out" now and having fun. "Sometimes, though, I wish I had Alex's powers, so I could zap an annoying teacher," Oleynik said.
You may be wondering just how she floats objects to her, or zaps people or morphs into a puddle in "The Secret World of Alex Mack." "The objects I float to me are hung on fishing wire on big poles," Oleynik explained. "Sometimes I get tangled in the wire, so they put hot pink ribbons on the wire to avoid that. My morphing into a puddle is all done by computer. I go off screen and the computer people take care of it," she continued.
Oleynik talked more about the cast and crew of "The Secret World of Alex Mack" who seem to get along incredibly well. "There's no tension, ever, " she said happily. Oleynik loves going to work every morning on the set, and is especially close to Meredith Bishop, who portrays her sister on the show. "She's just like a real sister to me," Oleynik said.
Unfortunately, Larisa doesn't have a real sister, or a brother, but she says that she has something even better - two very supportive parents. Her mother travels with her to the set while her father stays home - although he visits the set frequently. Oleynik said she sometimes feels like Dawn - the girl she portrayed in "The Babysitters Club" movie - who was always being bounced back and forth between her parents. Oleynik feels like Dawn because she has two lives - her life on the set, and her life back at home - and she is constantly packing up and going from one life to the other.
One place she'll be going soon is "Nickelodeon's 9th Annual Kids' Choice Awards at Universal Studios in Hollywood on May 11th. Although she's not sure what she'll be doing, she will definitely be there. Like millions of other kids, (myself included!) Oleynik voted in these awards, too. "I dialed up the phone number when I was watching Snick one night," Oleynik laughed. "I couldn't decide between `Fresh Prince of BelAir' or `Home Improvement.' I finally voted for `Home Improvement' for my favorite television show." Finally, I asked Oleynik (she will be 15 years old soon) what is the most important thing in her life right now. "My friends, my family and my cat, Tigger," she answered without hesitation.
She added, "My friends are definitely more important than my career. If I had to choose, I'd choose my friends over my career." It doesn't look like she'll have to make that choice anytime soon. "The Secret World of Alex Mack" will be on the air for a long time, and with Oleynik's successful feature film debut in "The Babysitter's Club" movie last summer - she will definitely be in demand.
Tampa Bay Online
From www.larisa.com
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