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Oliver Trevena Takes The Plunge Back into Cinema

Oliver Trevena Takes The Plunge Back into Cinema

Photo credit Josh Beech

Oliver Trevena is a British actor and longtime host of the interview show Young Hollywood. In the two years after leaving the show, he has been part of more than a half dozen projects, two of which have already been released. In 2018, he had a role in Ariel Vromen’s The Angel. The Rising Hawk, a joint US-Ukrainian film, opened in Ukraine in October. A third film, Grand Isle, will hit theaters in December. 

Downtown Magazine: So how did your work with Young Hollywood get started?

Oliver Trevena: Kind of just a chance thing, really. I grew up in entertainment. I was in ballet and theater for 12 years. Um, and when I came to the States, I obviously found a lot of theater and acting and trained abroad. And when I came to America, hosting was never something that I thought I’d do. I’ve seen presenters–we call them presenters in London–but never really considered it at all. 

And on a chance night out, I was actually hosting a friend of mine’s birthday and we were doing karaoke and I ended up hosting the karaoke, I guess. I thought I’d be like, “Oh, next up we’ve got this…” You know, just for fun. And someone in the audience was the founder of Young Hollywood and he said, “Oh, you’re a great host.” And I actually had no idea what he meant. “He’s like, do you want to do some work for us?” And that lasted nine years. 

DT: So, What changed?

OT: I think in the last year or so I just made a conscious decision. I was missing my acting. It’s tough when you go to meet some incredible people and it’s amazing to sit with some of the people that I look up to as actors, but also I’m constantly talking to them about what they’re doing and this work. I was getting the itch again. Yeah. So it was time to kind of pullback. Uh, yeah, like last may–may of 2018–I let the contracts end that I was stuck in and I said, I want to take a gamble and get back into my acting. 

DM: What sorts of things that you learned interviewing all of those actors?

OT: It was great doing the interviews because a lot of the people that I’m now working with on set, I’ve been interviewed or I’ve met before. That’s great. I also go into some of these jobs and people would say, “you nervous? You’ve got to be acting on the side of…whomever.” I don’t have any of that because I’ve spent so many years around them. 

Also, just like realizing that the most memorable people are the people that are really just themselves. I mean I’ve done thousands of interviews. I understand why people obviously have guards up and stuff like that, but when you sit with someone and they’re just themselves, it’s an easier way to connect. It could be crazy. They could be quiet, or they could be funny, as long as it’s who they are. 

I guess what I learned is to just be myself and be comfortable with it. Um, yeah. Embrace all the craziness, you know, embrace the good, the bad, the ugly. It’s been good–and weird. It’s like I’m now 38 years old and it’s just been an amazing time in the last year. I feel like I’m in my early twenties, again, with an excitement for life and the lessons I’ve learned on the way.

Oliver Trevena

DM: You play one of the villains in Neil Marshall’s The Reckoning. How does it feel playing like that bad of a bad guy?

OT: I love it. I think that’s what I really miss about acting. I spent so long, the hosting world was great cause I got to be me. Which is fun. But I think that’s why it got a bit repetitive cause I was just being me–someone that loves to perform and create to just be someone else in moments. Acting is what I really miss. So it’s been nice because every role is just so, so different from real life.

DM: So you have a film coming out in October, The Rising Hawk. 

OT: It’s a 13th century kind of pre-Ghengis Khan film. Everyone in Ukraine has this book. It’s like the equivalent of Romeo and Juliet. It’s like their, their story, which is called Zakhar Berkut. They basically made it into a movie as a U S Ukraine kinda co-production. I play Bohun. Who’s this kind of Irish killing machine.

DT: I’ve heard people describe that the only difference between a dance number and a fight scene is the number of swords. Did you feel like that a lot of that on the set?

OT: It may shock a lot of people, but I was in ballet, modern and tap for 12 years. Um, and it definitely helps because it is a sequence, you know, it’s all memory. Everything is a dance routine with a sword. I will say I found it extremely difficult, at first. I didn’t grow up, playing with the whole sword thing wasn’t kind of part of my upbringing. I just played football, soccer, that was it. So a lot of the other cast members that had been in previous movies or had some sort of experience. So for me, it was completely new.

DM: So are you going to be trying anything else new?

OT: I’ve started to project produce, which a lot of friends are telling me I was doing anyway.

DT: How so?

OT: I always help friends out. They’d be like, “Oh, can you read the script? We need suggestions,” and I’ll be like, “Oh, I just interviewed this actor or he’s great or she’s great and I’ll put them in touch and it would go that way.” So was kind of similar to what I’m doing now, but we raise some financing and we’re funding a few projects and I’m really enjoying that side of things as well.

DT: And then what’s next in the acting department?

OT: Right now there are a couple of movies that I’m attached to. I’m just waiting for them to be greenlit and then we’ll move forward on them. One called Misdirection. It’s a great script for a thriller. The others, you know, it’s just a bit of a waiting game between projects. I’ve been very lucky to do so much in the last 14 months. So a bit of downtime right now is okay, but I could be on a plane next week. That’s the nature of it.

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Interview: Jessica Camacho Lays Down The Law

Interview: Alexa Swinton of ABC’s Emergence

Interview: Laura Gómez of Orange Is The New Black

Downtown Interview: Actress Li Jun Li

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Culture Featured

Interview: Jessica Camacho Lays Down The Law

Interview: Jessica Camacho Lays Down The Law

Photo credit Storm Santos

Interview: Jessica Camacho Lays Down The Law

Jessica Camacho has always had an inclination towards justice. She even considered a career in law before becoming an actress. She enjoyed the idea of fighting for what is just, something larger than herself. That makes her new roles, as LA County Public Defender Emily Lopez in CBS‘s All Rise and Police Officer ‘Pirate Jenny’ in HBO‘s Watchmen, particularly compelling.

Both shows ask compelling questions about the criminal justice system, and about the responsibility each person has to do what is right–whether or not that thing is backed up by the law. Camacho herself holds strong convictions, though she doesn’t see those convictions as political. “There are things that I just know are right,” she tells me, “that is like the pursuit of freedom, the pursuit of fairness. We all want to be treated with respect. To have a shot at a life and providing for ourselves, for our family. We all want to be free from violence. That, to me, is the hard line.”

Downtown: What excited you about All Rise?

Jessica Camacho: I get to play this incredible human being who is committed to justice in a very clear and true way. I got to really understand and explore what it is to be a public defender. That particular line of work is so heavy and burdened by the knowledge that so many lives are reliant upon the public defender as their last line of defense. The clients often have nothing and are in situations that are so dire. They are trusting in this human being to help them have a shot at the rest of their lives. I get to play somebody who is committed to something so much greater than themselves. I was very honored.

DT: Did you have an interest in the legal system before this role?

JC: Before I became an actor, before I even knew that acting would be a part of my life, I thought about going into law. It’s something that always interested me. It fascinated me: fighting on the right side of things, fighting for something bigger than yourself. I was always moved by that. 

The problem was that I could never decide if I wanted to be a prosecutor or a defense attorney. I was not very good at making decisions, so I’m like, I might not be the best lawyer. I see the gray a lot of times. I’m not a person that is more apt to see things in black and white. So it was just like, “I don’t know if this is the right pursuit for me.” And then pretty soon after that, I discovered acting. 

Jessica Camacho
Jessica Camacho

DT: Were there any issues in All Rise that were particularly close to you?

JC: I think the thing that’s closest to me in my personal life is Emily’s struggle with relationships. But also I know that the topics that we explore in All Rise–as a human being, as an American–a lot of those really resonate with me, hit home with me. So I often find myself being really, really stirred emotionally by the things that we’re exploring on the show.

DT: Did you read Watchmen or seen the movie before you, uh, audition to be part of Watchman?

JC: I had seen the movie. As I was auditioning, I started to read through the original graphic novel and I was blown away. It was dark and it was stirring and it was uncomfortable. It was talking about real fears and real anxieties, and the paranoia and the darkness within us. 

So that’s when I kinda realized like, “Oh, this is special, this is really special. This is like a different kind of look at life through the lens of the comic filter. This is something different.” So, yeah, it was very exciting.

DT: In addition to Watchmen, you were also on The Flash. Why do you think superhero shows are so popular right now?

JC: (Superheroes) speak to the possibility, the potential within us. I think as human beings, we feel limited in our lives. We feel the separation between how we want to see ourselves and how we actually see ourselves. I think the fascination with superheroes, it kind of picks up where our limitations leave us and there’s something beautiful and there’s something freeing about that.

But I think in terms of Watchman, I think this is the perfect time for Watchman because, with the constant stream of news and updates that technology brings us, we’re blown away by how much war, darkness, fighting, racism, and fear there is in the world. I think we want even our fantasies, even our heroes, to reflect what we’re experiencing as human beings.

I think people now want to see real. Yes, (Watchmen is) dealing with fantasy and yes, it’s dealing with heroes. Yes, it’s dealing with masks, but why the masks? What are the masks hiding? What are they disguising? I just think we’re just ready to delve in, even in our fantasy, to the darker nature of what is behind all of this.

When you see Watchman it’s like, Oh shit, this is not shying away from ugliness. This is not shying away from the horrible parts of American history. This is actually digging straight into that. Like, let’s address it so we can stop hating. Let’s address this. Then we can stop pretending that this is not at the core of us right now because we need to heal from it. And wounds need air to heal. I think it’s actually a really positive and beautiful thing that we’re starting to present things that are of the darker nature of us because I think it means that we want to heal.

Jessica Camacho
Jessica Camacho

DM: What’s next?

JC: Right now, we just found out that uh, all rise is getting a full season, so we’ll be shooting until about March. I think we’re just all kind of like, “Cool, all right, let’s buckle down. Let’s make this, let’s combine our efforts and make a really beautiful piece of work.” So that’s what’s on my agenda. I’m excited to see what comes next. I’m bubbling over with passion and energy. I love what I do. I am so, so excited to show up for it, to show up for every project that I get to do, and I’m just excited to see what comes next.

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Interview: Alexa Swinton of ABC’s Emergence

Alexa Swinton
Photo courtesy of Persona PR.

Emergence is a new ABC show about a mysterious young girl. It’s also a supernatural sci-fi mystery thriller. Police officer Jo Evans (Allison Tolman) finds her at the site of a plane crash, untouched and unharmed. The girl, Piper, has no memory and no known identity, but she seems drawn to Evans. Plots thicken when a suspicious couple tries to claim the girl, who appears to have hidden powers. Who is she? What is her secret? That’s Emergence. 

That’s also Alexa Swinton, the young actress who plays Piper. I mean, we know where she came from and–to my knowledge–isn’t being pursued by shadowy organizations. But, for a child, she seems to have hidden powers. In addition to acting, she’s a singer and a writer. Her first album is due to come out in January 2020, though you can hear her sing online. She’s also working on a book with her mom, “The Life of Skylie.” When she’s not doing that, she’s coding original computer games. At least one of those has gotten several thousand views.

Alexa Swinton on Emergence poster
Photo via IMDB

Swinton has been acting in film, television, and theater since the age of 1. Her first tv role was on the show Mythos in 2012. Before Emergence, her biggest credit was for her role in Billions as the daughter of the Attorney General of New York. She’s “uber excited” about her new role. “I can’t contain my feelings,” she tells Downtown, “(Piper is) totally a main character. I mean, she’s on the poster.” 

Acting must be in the Swinton blood. Yes, she’s distantly related to Tilda Swinton, but her mother, Inna Swinton, is also an actor. So are her siblings, Maxim and Ava. The three kids have their own website, a collection of performances and accolades for the trio marking them as “Three Creators and Performers.” 

Alexa Swinton is one of the youngest actors on the set of Emergence, but she’s having no trouble keeping up. She’s a big sci-fi and mystery fan and loves every aspect of playing Piper. “It’s always fun to play a really smart character,” she tells Downtown. “It’s so so cool that she doesn’t remember her past.” 

Check out Alexa Swinton and the rest of the cast of Emergence, ABC’s new supernatural sci-fi mystery thriller, tonight at 10 pm/9c.

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Interview: Laura Gómez of Orange Is The New Black

Laura Gómez
Laura Gómez. Photo by Erika Morillo.
Laura Gómez
Laura Gómez. Photo by Erika Morillo.

Actress Laura Gómez talks about her career, what’s next, and the art of bringing OITNB’s Blanca Flores to life for seven seasons.

For seven years, Laura Gómez transformed herself into the character of Blanca Flores on the hit show Orange Is the New Black. Blanca began the show as (so it appeared) a satanic bogart haunting the only stall in the prison with a working lock. Through Gómez’s empathetic performance, we watched as Blanca revealed the beautiful and tragic love story buried beneath her first impressions. A story finally concluded at the end of OITNB’s seventh season.

Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black may have introduced many viewers to Gómez, but it was far from the start of her career. She began acting in her native Dominican Republic, though she went to school for advertising. At 21, she moved to NYC to pursue acting as a career. She found a home with the Spanish Repertory Theater, participating in award-winning plays. From there, she branching out into television and movie work, as well as voiceovers. Fans may have seen her in the movie Exposed, opposite Keanu Reeves, in her recurring role in as Selena Cruz in Law & Order: SVU, or on HBO’s limited series Show Me A Hero.

1. How do you feel about how the show left Blanca at the end of season  7? Very satisfied to be honest. Blanca’s storyline in season 7 was very difficult to inhabit and to watch, because it’s such a close depiction of today’s sad reality in the United States. I believe it was somewhat necessary to give the audience some sort of comfort and relief at the end of a very hard season, and Blanca and Diablo’s unconventional love story provided precisely that. 

2. What do you think (or hope) will happen to Blanca after the show ends? I hope she and Diablo live happily ever after.

3. How does it feel to leave Blanca Flores behind? I loved playing this character and her evolution on the show, but acting is one of those professions where you get used to things ending and new chapters beginning, whether it’s a play, at the show, or a movie. We actually had a pretty long run and I feel very grateful for it, but I’m also ready to move on onto a new horizon. 

4. What have you learned during your seven years on the set of OITNB? I’ve learned a lot more than I already knew about our broken prison system. OITNB is a show that educated us all about difficult topics, bringing important conversations to the table. On season 7, we are exposing harsh realities about immigration and detention centers, and even though I’m well informed about the subject, there were new things I learned through Blanca and new character Karla’s stories. Plus, working with such amazing cast and writers, I definitely grew as an actor, 

5. Was it a coincidence that Blanca was from Santo Domingo, or was that written in to match your life? It was described like that from the get-go. I brought my all to the audition and got the part that happened to fit me like a glove. 

6. What is an important issue that you believe OITNB covered well during its run? Oh well, pretty much all of it, from the privatization of prisons to white privilege to Black Lives Matter to transgender issues (remember the beautiful backstory of Sophia -Laverne Cox’ character- on Season 1?) to opioids epidemic to the whole immigration issue around ICE on season 7. Not to mention the fact that it is a show created by a woman with a strong female presence all around. Meaning, it covered that in terms of a male-dominated industry. 

7. What is an important issue that you wish OITNB addressed more, or better? I think we did pretty good overall, all things considered.

8. What is next for you? I just came back from shooting a film back in the Dominican Republic called Sunshine which will hit the festival circuit sometime next year, and right now I’m in the complex process of auditioning for new things. Not something that I can control, so in the meantime, I’m very focused on developing two screenplays -short and feature film- both based on plays that I wrote, which I also plan to direct. 

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Downtown Interview: Actor Nicholas Coombe

Nicholas Coombe
"One day I'd like to use a lightsaber." Photography by Noah Asanias | Grooming by Marlayna Pincott

Downtown chats with actor Nicholas Coombe about his role in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, his acting journey, and his love for the arts.

Nicholas Coombe
Nicholas Coombe Photography by Noah Asanias | Grooming by Marlayna Pincott

Nicholas Coombe grew up in Perth, one of the world most isolated cities. From the time he was six, he has thrown himself into the performing arts: tap, jazz, ballet, acting, and musical theater. He loves singing, dancing, and playing music, but it was his acting which has taken him from Perth, Australia to Vancouver, Canada, where he lives now.

Coombe’s latest project, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, is set to come out tomorrow. He plays the role of Randy, an awkward high schooler who gets swept up in an adventure when his new classmate sets off to rescue her parents and solve the mystery of the lost city of gold.

Dan Metz: You’ve been in other films and television before. How was working on the set of Dora different from other productions you’ve worked on?

Nicholas Coombe: Honestly? This film was incredible. It’s definitely one of the biggest productions I’ve been a part of, which was really exciting. It was such a big project. There were so many incredible sets. The crew was massive. Everyone who was working on the film was renowned artists: the director James Bobin and the actors and actresses on the film. So it was really just an amazing experience. It was a larger scale than I’ve ever been a part of, and that was cool.

DM: There are some big names in Dora, and you got to work with a lot of them. How was that? 

NC: Incredible. It was like a masterclass in acting. I spent a lot of time working with Eugenio Derbez and he’s like the king of comedy. He’s such a funny man. I learned a lot from him and we spent a lot of time improvising at each other and trying to make each other laugh. We made a pretty fun game of that. 

Eva Longoria and Michael Peña, when they were there, were extremely nice people. They are extremely down to earth and they are hilarious and amazing performers. So just being able to stand across from them in a scene and witness them do their job was a really cool experience.

Dora the Explorer
Dora and the Lost City of Gold comes out on August 9th, 2019. Photo courtesy of IMDB

DM: What was your favorite part of working on Dora?

NC: I’d say the comedy, and also being able to film it in Australia. Because I’m Australian myself, it was really nice to go back to my home country, to be able to run through the jungle for four months and shoot a bunch of action sequences and be a jokester. It was a really cool opportunity.

DM: Where in Australia was it?

NC: We were filming on the Gold Coast, in Queensland. So we filmed a bunch in the studios out there, and then also in the surrounding jungle areas. 

DM: So not exactly close to where you were living before. 

NC: No. I’m originally from Perth, Western Australia, so it’s still a solid six-hour flight. But in saying that, my mom was a lot happier to catch a six-hour flight than a three-day trip to get to Canada.

DM: How did you get involved with Dora?

NC: Originally it was just an audition that came through from my team. So I did my self tape and I sent it off to LA, and then I didn’t hear anything for a few weeks. Then they got back to me. And they were like, “Hey we liked what you did. Can you re-tape it a different way?” and I was like “Yeah, of course.” So I sent that off and then I didn’t hear anything again for a bit, and then one day my manager called me and was like, “Hey! We’re setting up a skype call with James Bobin, the director of Dora,” and I was like “Wow, that’s amazing. Okay.” He gave me a few notes and I retaped it one more time and then I didn’t hear anything again, and I was like, “Oh no. I don’t think I got it.” And then I got another phone call from my manager, and he was like, “Nick! You booked the role of Randy. They want you to fly out in two days’ time.” and I was like, “This is amazing and terrifying and exciting.” 

DM: Oh man. I can’t imagine. 

NC: Yeah. It was pretty life-changing. 

DM: But you’ve been in all kinds of projects before. You’ve done voice acting with Spy Kids. You even directed and wrote a little bit a few years ago. That was cool. 

NC: Yeah. I’ve been blessed to be a part of a bunch of different projects, like Spy Kids. I got to do the voiceover, which was awesome. I got to play an Australian in that, and I had a great time doing the accent. 

I’ve dabbled in directing and writing. Cinema Town (a miniseries where Coombe wrote one episode and directed two) was one of my first projects. But I still have so much to learn, so it will probably be a while before I dive into that again. For now, I’m trying my best to make the most of every experience I have and learn. 

DM: Would you be interested in doing more directing and writing eventually down the line? 

NC: Yeah, in the future. At the moment I’m focused on acting, but down the line, I would love to write and direct my own movies. I love films like those by Wes Anderson. I think his movies are incredible and I love the idea of using colors and music to tell a story. So, if I do get into directing, I think that is the path I’d want to pursue.

DM: What are some of your dream roles?

NC: I have so many. I’ve always wanted to do a big epic fantasy franchise, like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. I’ve also always loved war films, and that would be a really cool opportunity to tell one of those stories.

DM: What appeals to you about those two?

NC: I love fantasy and sci-fi. I grew up watching Star Wars. So ever since day one, it’s been like “One day I’d like to use a lightsaber.” And the idea of jumping into this alternate universe and telling different stories, and being able to play characters that are not like your everyday person, is a really fun experience and something that I hope to do. 

DM: What’s the most fun role that you’ve played so far. 

Nicholas Coombe
So ever since day one, it’s been like, “One day, I’d like to use a lightsaber.” Photography by Noah Asanias | Grooming by Marlayna Pincott

NC: Randy, in Dora. He’s a really funny guy. I found myself laughing in every scene. There’s a lot of improvisation; James Bobin let us do a lot of improvisation throughout the film. I found myself giggling a lot, or trying to keep a straight face while bantering back and forth with the other actors. Randy has been a dream, and I’ve had a blast messing around with him.

DM: What’s next for you after this movie? 

NC: There are a bunch of things coming up in the pipeline that I can’t talk about yet.

The one thing I can talk about, though, is that I have a band. We’re called The Beanie Kids and we are recording and releasing an EP soon. I think our first song will be out in August. I’m very excited. These are songs that I’ve been writing ever since I was in high school. It’s really exciting to put them together and release them to the world.

DM: Do you see yourself staying in the Vancouver scene? 

NC: Maybe. I would like to move to LA for a period of time. I’m not sure when, but it’s definitely on my options. The thing about film is that everything shoots everywhere around the world. So you never really know where you’re gonna end up, which is exciting. 

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Culture Entertainment Featured NYC

“American Housewife” Star Meg Donnelly Will Always Be a New Yorker

Meg Donnelly landed the part of Taylor Otto on American Housewife at age 16 and suddenly moved from New York City to Los Angeles. She was not cast in the pilot and was about to take a break from auditioning to be a normal teenager when she got the call that they wanted her for the series. Now in its third season, American Housewife is a hilarious look at suburban America and the families that do or don’t seem to “fit in” there. We chatted with the now 18 year old Donnelly about how her life has changed, her acting dreams, and her New York City favorites.

Photo by the Riker Brothers

Downtown: You grew up in NYC, are you an Uptown or Downtown person?

Meg Donnelly: Neither really! Sort of in the middle. I grew up on 56th and 10th so Hell’s Kitchen, a little bit more Uptown I guess. I’ve loved growing up here, and we are so close from the water, we’re only two blocks from the Hudson River so it’s really nice.

Downtown: What did you start first: dancing, acting, or singing?

MD: I started in theater so it’s kind of all three in one, but I fell in love with singing probably first. When I was about 11 I had my first agent/manager type thing and I went on theater auditions and then I started doing straight acting auditions and I fell in love with that too.

Downtown: When you were starting what was the dream?

MD: Ever since I was younger High School Musical was my thing, I was obsessed with it, it was such a big deal. Also Spongebob always had the musicals too and it is my all time favorite.

Downtown: Did you see the musical?

MD: Yes, I did! I see everything Spongebob, it’s the best, but my dream was to do a combo of theater and movies because I loved HSM so much. I think the things where you combine the two are the coolest, so when Zombies came around I was crying because that was my dream all my life.

Downtown: Do you have a favorite musical?

MD: I love Book of Mormon. I remember being 11 and listening to the soundtrack and thinking it’s so scandalous, I love this! I ended up seeing the show and it was so good. Also, of course Hamilton but that kind of goes without saying, it’s just kind of legendary. In The Heights is so good, “96,000” is one of my favorite songs, but my favorite of all time is Rent for sure.

Downtown: Would your dream role be in Rent?

MD: Mimi. It was kind of bad too because when I was like 7 or 8 I would say my dream role is Mimi, and people would say, “so your dream role is to be a stripper?” and I would say, “well kind of, but it was more dimensions to it.”

Downtown: What was your life like right before you booked American Housewife?

MD: I was just going to high school here in the city, it was pretty normal. I had been auditioning professionally since I was 11 and I did jobs here and there but nothing really big. In the pilot for American Housewife they cast another girl and then they recast it and I was picked up for the series. After the auditions for the pilot I thought to myself, I was really close and I really wanted this role so I think I’m just going to take a break and just be a normal kid and if stuff comes up that’s cool but I just want to take a break. Right when I said I was going to take a break American Housewife was like just kidding! It was kind of a weird coincidence, and I’m so glad.

Photo by the Riker Brothers

Downtown: What’s it like being in LA?

MD: Way different than here for sure. It was kind of a whirlwind because I was 16 and I was just going to high school like a normal kid and all the sudden it was like, “hey, you’re moving to LA tomorrow, congrats!” When I moved to, LA I didn’t know anyone out there. I slowly started connecting but I was also really shy because it was all so new to me and I didn’t know how long I was going to be there. When season two came around, and that was after Zombies, I knew more people, and they helped me so much to be more confident and outgoing.

Downtown: Does it feel like home there yet or are you still a real New Yorker?

MD: New York will always be home but LA is definitely homey. I love living there for sure, the weather’s really nice, the people are cool, but New York will always be home.

Downtown: Did you start shooting for the new Zombies yet?

MD: No, we start shooting in May and it’s in Toronto again in the same building that we stayed in last time. I am so excited because that was easily the best summer of my life. All the people are coming back, and there’s going to be new people so there’s going to be additional family members, which is going to be incredible, and they’re going to be awesome, and we’re going to have so much fun.

Downtown: Were you a Disney kid or Nickelodeon kid?

MD: I was both because Nickelodeon had some great shows like Drake and Josh, iCarly, Victorious, Ned’s Declassified, Zoey 101, that was my favorite, but then Disney Channel had like Wizards of Waverly Place, Zack and Cody, Hannah Montanna, High School Musical, it never gets old. There are shows on Disney Channel that I actually watch like Andi Mack, that show’s good.

Downtown: Do you think that if you weren’t in American Housewife you would watch it?

MD: I think so, I think I would watch it. I love watching ABC shows like Modern Family so i feel like I would stumble upon it. I feel like I would love the character Greg. Diedrich (Bader) is the best.

Downtown: What are some of the most memorable scenes or episodes that you’ve shot?

MD: The American Idol one was crazy. That one was so surreal because it was a normal day on set and then we went to American Idol to sing for the judges. We went to where the auditions were, but I just thought I was singing in front of my TV parents Katy (Mixon) and Diedrich at the set, and then we got to the set and they said, “oh, no, no, no, you’re singing in front of the actual judges,” and I was like, “Sorry, did I hear you right?” That was crazy.

Downtown: Was that a childhood dream?

MD: It was a childhood dream, and I was terrified because I’m on a TV show, if I mess up I can do it again, but these contestants have one shot and that’s it, the pressure is crazy.

Downtown: Do you have time to work on your music?

MD: Yeah, I’ve actually been recording music every day since I’ve been here in New York. The studio that I record at primarily is here, so every time I come here I’m in the studio every day. Sometimes people fly out to LA, and I’ll record there. I have an EP scheduled to come out in June while I’m filming Zombies, so that’s going to be crazy.

Downtown: Do you write or play instruments?

MD: I primarily write with this woman named Dahlia who is the best person ever, but I love writing. Every time I have an idea or a concept I’ll just write it down in my notes or a word will come up and I’ll write it down or text Dahlia and ask if it’s a good concept because she’s amazing. As for instruments, I play guitar and I dabble in piano, I never could really get the concept of piano but I’m working on it.

Photo by the Riker Brothers

Downtown: What are some of your favorite restaurants in New York City?

MD: There’s a place called Ivy on 5tth and 8th, and it’s really good, they have the best veggie burgers ever. I’m not a vegetarian anymore but I used to be, and their veggie burgers are insane and they have these polenta fries, it’s so good. Then mexican food, there’s this place called Los Tacos which is really good, their guacamole is insane. On 50th and 8th, Don Antonio has the best Italian food.

Downtown: What’s your favorite area to shop in the city?

MD: I go to SoHo every time I come here, I just want to be there the whole time because the shopping is amazing. There’s a place called Tokio 7 that’s really good, Kith is really good, it’s such a cool shop, Vintage Twin is good, I just went to the Glossier in that area and it’s so cool, it’s such a cool setup.

Downtown: Do you have a favorite museum?

MD: The Whitney, I love the Whitney. The ideal thing is to go take the subway to 23rd and 8th, and then just walk down. There’s this really good breakfast place that has amazing avocado toast, and then you walk, and underneath the Highline there’s all these mini museums and little galleries that you just go into for a second and walk out, and there’s always the craziest stuff in there, it’s so much fun. Then you go up to the Highline and then go to the Whitney and then walk to the village and see all of that and then to Washington Square Park and then to SoHo. Then they see the actual, real New York City because most people just see Times Square and Broadway and Rockefeller Center, which you have to do and it’s great, but if they want to see like the real sort of non-touristy stuff, if you’re coming to New York that’s what you should do.

Downtown: Do you have any one thing that has to be the first thing when you get back?

MD: The first thing, I have to eat pizza and bagels, that’s the number one thing, when I wake up I’m going to have a bagel and then for lunch I’m going to have pizza.

Photo by the Riker Brokers

Downtown: How did you learn to speak Japanese?

MD: This is a crazy story. Basically there was this Japanese boy band that came to my school as exchange students. It was insane everyone, they were  amazing hip hop dancers but a lot of people were like, “Why don’t they speak English?” and I’m like, “because they’re from Japan, what do you mean?” They weren’t as nice to them and so they didn’t really get to learn English because they were just staying in their group the whole time. So I started hanging out with them, and my friends started hanging out with them as well, and I decided to learn Japanese even though I was going to make a fool of myself. I butchered it, and they laughed.

Downtown: Do you have the language skills to go there and have a conversation?

MD: Yeah, that’s what I did during the summer. I went there for two weeks with my family and I was my parents’ translator. I started learning from the guys and YouTube videos and now I actually take lessons because I didn’t know it was going to go this far.

Downtown: Now that you live in LA have you learned how to drive?

MD: No, I haven’t and I have no excuse! It’s on the list. I have the course and I’ve been studying it for the written test, but I just haven’t done it yet. They put it on the show, and the car was in neutral, and they pushed me, I swear, no joke, but I’ve been in LA for like two and a half years now, I have no excuse.

Downtown: What should viewers look for in the rest of the season?

MD: There’s this really great episode coming that actually was so much fun. I don’t want to spoil it but it has to do with Peyton Meyer (Trip) and Franklin (Evan O’Toole) who’s Anna-Kat’s best friend. It is the funniest episode, I think I laughed the whole time we were filming, oh my god it’s so funny.

American Housewife airs on Tuesdays at 8:00 PM on ABC.