Nikki Blonsky:

Hairspray Heroine

by Lynn B

Okay, picture this; you are scooping ice cream at your neighborhood Long Island Cold Stone Creamery and a TV crew busts in to tell you that you’ve got the lead in the star-packed new musical movie Hairspray! Not gonna happen? That’s what 18-year-old, cute, brown-eyed actress/singer Nikki Blonsky thought but it happened to her!

For those not familiar with the Hairspray saga, there was a movie made back in 1988. It was such a hit that it went to Broadway as a musical play and has now gone full circle to film again. This is the story of a 1960’s, plus-sized Baltimore teen who dances her way to fame, fortune and into the heart of the hottest guy in school by performing on a local TV dance show. She also manages to fight for plus-sized and racial equality along the way.

Nikki got the coveted starring role of Tracy Turnblad in the movie, beating out a ton of knowns and unknowns all over the country and she is nothing short of an amazing dynamo in the part. She’s not only amazing on screen but in real life. Nikki had gotten ill during the press day at the 4 Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills and had retired to her hotel room but when we told her publicists how disappointed we were and hoped for her recovery, she got dressed, came downstairs and talked to us anyway. What a trouper!

The talented, loveable, friendly brunette had put on a bit of make-up and looked very modern without the huge 1960’s back-combed hairstyle she wears in the film. Her brown hair is longer and she had on a cute, Japanese-style kimono top over skinny black capris and ballerina flats. This is an upbeat gal who just lights up a room when she comes in. All her famous co-stars love her. Get ready to be inspired by Nikki and hear the story of her journey from hometown performer in high school plays to the glamour of Hollywood and how she studied the 1960’s in order to portray a high school student during that era.

Nikki: Hi! I’m very excited to meet you. Yay! [noticing Japanese Kit Kat candy bars on the table] And you have Kit Kats. You are my kind of people!

AGW: Congratulations on a magnificent job in the movie. Can you just tell us the story of your long journey to getting the role of Tracy in Hairspray?

Nikki: Yes, I’ll tell you exactly what happened. I saw Hairspray when I was 15. I saw the Broadway show and fell in love with it. Tracy just jumped off the stage into my heart and that was it. And then, at 16, I auditioned for the Broadway show and they told me that I was too young and I was just devastated. I wanted to do it more than anything. When I turned 17, there was an open call for the movie. I made a video tape of me singing some of the songs and scenes from the Broadway show. We sent it to New Line and New Line forwarded it to the casting directors and they said, ‘We’re coming into New York. We’d like you to come in during the open call.’ And I went in and for 5 months, I kept going on callback after callback, audition after audition.

AGW: So, you made it through all that and more?

Nikki: Well, the final step was a screen test out here in L.A. It was my first time out here. I did the screen test and went home. They said the earliest you could find out would be 2 days, the latest would be 2 weeks. Oh well, 4 weeks later I’m still sitting there back at the Cold Stone Creamery. I was just waiting and they called and they said, ‘We’re doing a behind the scenes with each of the four final girls and for you we want to come to Cold Stone.’ They came the day before my senior prom. They had the full camera crew. All of a sudden, they opened up a lap top and Adam Shankman the director popped up on the screen and he said, ‘Hi Nikki. It’s Adam Shankman, the director of Hairspray and I just want to thank you for going through this long process, but I think you should go make yourself a big ice cream cone because you’re going to be playing Tracy Turnblad in the big screen movie’. And I fell off my chair crying and screaming, just arms flailing everywhere, freaking out.

AGW: Wow! So, then was it all on TV?

Nikki: Yes, little did I know that the cameras were not just New Line cameras, they were ET cameras. ‘Now go wash your face. You gotta do your first interview with ET Live!’ And I was like, “Oh my God! , Entertainment Tonight? Oh, that’s unbelievable!” It was a total whirlwind. I mean it was so unbelievable, so exciting. I did my prom and started doing press right away. I love talking about this movie because it packs some really amazing messages.

AGW: How was it having John Travolta as your mom and Christopher Walken playing your dad in your first movie?

Nikki: Well it was an amazing experience. They’re both legendary actors, icons in their own right, so talented, but two of the most gentle, kind men I think I’ve ever met in my entire life. So sweet and I adore both of them really. My parents are a very important part of my life. They’re my best friends. So to have people play your parents, this bond has to be created. And from the second I met Chris and John, that bond was there. The chemistry was there and the family was born. So it was incredible to work with them.

AGW: Every actor we’ve talked to this afternoon has said that you are such a natural. They’re just so impressed with you. What quality do you think you have inside you that doesn’t let you go, ‘Freeze! It’s my first movie!’ Are you just that friendly or what is it?

Nikki: You know I think it is. I really truly credit it to my upbringing. My parents never made me feel like I was different because I was plus size or because I was short. They told me I was beautiful no matter what way I came and they told me I could do anything I put my mind to. So they supported me 100%. When you have parents like that and they’re feeding that to you every day, I think you have no choice but to be confident in who you are and just be proud of it.

AGW: What would you say to a teen who is going, ‘I’m different.’ What would you say to someone who wants to know, ‘How do I get past this and feel better about myself?’

Nikki: Well I think the first step is going to watch Hairspray. [Laughs] The bottom line is that you have to find it within yourself. You have to be secure within yourself. I think you have to find the passion within you and whatever your dream is, it doesn’t matter really what you look like if you have the passion and you have the drive and you have the love for it. Go for it! Because, at the end of the day, it’s about the talent and it’s about the love and the passion, not about the length of the hair and the size of the hips.

AGW: You could be scooping ice cream and the next day you’re in the movies!

Nikki: Honestly, you never know. It’s like the lottery. You never know. Just follow your dreams really. It’s just about taking what’s within and putting it out and working with it.

AGW: What kind of music do you like to listen to at home or in your car? Who’s hot for you right now?

Nikki: Right now I’m loving Amy Winehouse because she’s gone back to the ‘60s to bring back the horns and everything. But I love Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas, Nelly Furtado and Timbaland. I love all different types of stuff. I love country. Patsy Cline is my favorite singer of all time and I love Jack Johnson so all kinds of stuff.

AGW: Why Patsy?

Nikki: My grandmother raised me on her music so I just listened to it all my life and I lost my grandmother two years ago and so that’s my way that I still connect with her. Put on my iPod and I listen to Patsy and it brings me right back to when my Grandma and I were dancing the two-step to some of Patsy’s music.

AGW: How did it feel to finally see yourself up on the big screen?

Nikki: The first time I saw the movie I cried hysterically [deep inhale] ‘Ohhhhh, that’s me!!! Those are my eyes [in the opening scene]!!’ To have your eyes fill up a huge screen like that and then other scenes have your rear fill up a huge screen like that, it was like, ‘Whoa! Do we need to zoom in on that shot?! Really?! Did we now?’ [we laugh]. But, no, it was incredible just to get the part and be all excited and then to shoot it and then to watch it, it was just like ‘oh my gosh, look at this thing that we all created and now it’s out there, or soon to be, for the world to see’.

AGW: The movie carries some strong messages about equality back in the 1960’s. Did you have to research that time?

Nikki: When I got the part of Tracy, I researched the time period. I researched Baltimore in 1962. I wanted to know what civil rights movements were going on at the time. I had just gone through history class four months prior so I remember learning about it. This was the time for me to really just go back into it. I think that’s what really helped me in the portrayal of all the race issues and the bigotry that was going on which was just insane. I said to myself ‘if I was Nikki in 1962, I would be holding the same poster that Tracy was’. And today, in 2007, we’ve come so far but we have so much more to go to overcome these issues because sadly we still deal with them. I have faith that we will overcome and I know that I would be in that protest today.

AGW: Are you just a naturally great dancer or did you take dance lessons before this opportunity came?

Nikki: Funny thing, I was a singer since the age of 3 and trained since the age of 8, acted in my high school shows. I never danced before Hairspray.

AGW: Wow! That’s amazing.

Nikki: Thank you. My dance audition was actually in Baltimore and I remember going, ‘Oh my God. Please just let it work. Feet, do your magic. I don’t know how you’re going to do it. I don’t even know what an 8-count is but just figure it out.’ [Laughter] The choreographer got in the mirror and said, ‘Okay. This is the dance.’ And he did the entire two-minute dance and said, ‘Okay. Do it back.’ I swear it was the spirit of Baltimore. It just overtook me and I did that dance and I was like, ‘Oh my God. How am I moving? This is unbelievable!’

AGW: Then you must have had tons of dance rehearsals?

Nikki: Once I got to the set, I went through 8 hours a day for 2 months of intense dance rehearsals with a choreographer just over and over and over and then now John [Travolta] and I both agreed after doing the musical, he said, ‘I could probably do some of the dances from Grease still’ and I said, ‘I think I’ll always be able to do the dances from Hairspray because we drilled them for so long.’

AGW: What was your Plan B after high school? Were you thinking about going to college or was there something else?

Nikki: I had a deposit down on Long Island University and I said, ‘Well, if Hairspray doesn’t work out, then I’ll just go to college and major in drama.’ You know it was like, ‘I’m not giving this up.’ I was going to minor in forensic science/criminal justice. I think I was just obsessed with ‘CSI’. [Laughs] I just wanted to be an actor on ‘CSI’. But, I really wanted this acting thing. I really, really wanted it. I always had the motto of ‘why sit in a classroom for four years and learn how to audition when I could just go audition?’ Let me just go.

AGW: Director Adam Shankman is so passionate about this movie. What was it like working with him?

Nikki: What I saw in Adam was a person that I want to be like, a person that I admired. I’ve never seen a more passionate person than Adam Shankman. He was destined to find an unknown to play Tracy. He wanted to find me as much as I wanted to find him and now he’s one of my best friends. I call him to consult on everything from my hair color to my whatever. ‘Adam, I don’t know. What shoes should I get? I’m at Betsy Johnson.’ Because he’s just that third parent in a way, you know. Like I have two great parents but he gave me my dream come true.

AGW: You are a modest, sincere person. This can be a cruel business. Have you already had to face challenges in Hollywood or just in your life at home?

Nikki: I grew up going through elementary school and of course I was different. I was called all different kinds of names and whatever. But the thing is that I think life is what you make it and if you let things get to you, then that’s that. I was never a person who really let things get to me, what people said to me, I really just could care less about it. My grandmother said, ‘If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.’ So I would just say, ‘Well they have nothing nice to say so they should just stop talking.’ Everybody has their own opinions and of course this business is the most judgmental business out there. But I think I’m just going to take my own route and I have a lot of great people around me supporting me and loving me. Everyone from my parents to John Travolta and Adam so I think I’ll be okay.

AGW: Are you looking at other roles now? Do you have another movie lined up?

Nikki: I’ve been reading some stuff and I’ve been keeping busy with my agent. John has graciously shared his agent with me so I’m with William Morris and we are working furiously on finding another great film.

AGW: Another great musical?

Nikki: Well you know John starred in the greatest musical of all time Grease. He has said to me and to the press that a great musical is only made once every ten years so if I were to just wait for musicals, I’d be like waiting forever or I’d only be working once every ten years which is not acceptable. I know that I want to take some straight acting roles whether it be comedy or dramas. I want to really just put all my possibilities up for grabs and just try out all my chops. This was the open door that I was praying for my entire life and I’m just so glad that it’s come and I’m thankful for it and I’m not going to let it go to waste.

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