and Orlando in Florida. Underwood moved from the Sunshine State to the Golden State in the summer of 2003 to pursue his acting career, but has never forgotten how he arrived at this point.
He has lived in California for two years, and he and his family immediately chose Santa Monica as their place to call home. The Underwood family appreciates Santa Monica for many of the same reasons the city maintains its popularity: for its tranquility and sense of community.
When the Underwood family made their first trek across country from Florida to California, they encountered tornadoes, sandstorms and swindling hotel owners. At the end of their journey, just before the 10 freeway turns into the Pacific Coast Highway, the Underwood family happened upon a few of Santa Monica’s locals on Lincoln Boulevard. They were pointed toward the beach near the Santa Monica Pier. Almost immediately, they were sold.
Two years and hundreds of auditions later, Underwood finds his mailbox stuffed with fan mail and his calendar filled with appointments. In spite of his busy schedule, Underwood has regularly attended school his entire life, with the exception of last year. During the 2004- 2005 year, he was home schooled by his mother when he wasn’t busy playing Logan on the hit Nickelodeon show “Zoey 101,” which stars Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney Spears’ little sister.
Underwood also has been part of a number of other productions, including “Method & Red.” He made it to the big screen with appearances in “Stuck on You” and “From Justin to Kelly.”
The fact that he spends nearly all of this time in the acting world doesn’t discourage him from pursuing his other interests. Underwood plays sports, films amateur stunt videos and hangs out with his friends. However, he’s the first to admit that he is happiest when on set. His excitement for all things Hollywood led him to the American National Academy of the Performing Arts in Studio City, where he has been a volunteer teacher to aspiring young actors for the past year. Underwood expects that his commitment to acting education and direction will be a lifelong one, as he aims to become a director and producer when he grows up.
While the stage life has played a major role in shaping his character, Underwood can trace most of inspiration back to his native Florida. The young actor learned to walk, talk and perform there, and as long as his history remains deeply rooted in Florida, Underwood’s heart will too.
The Daily Press caught up with Underwood to hear his views on life, acting and being a kid in an adult’s world.
What first drew you to acting? “My sister got me into acting, she’s 19 now. When she was a baby, she was doing runway modeling. I was 6 months old when she said that she couldn’t take it anymore. When I was at the runway with my sister, my mom said that I was always reaching to get on stage, trying to climb on stage. She finally let me do it, and I had the most fun ever. I really owe my sister for my acting career. If she hadn’t done runway, I wouldn’t have done it.
“My brothers were also into acting, but not as much anymore. My brother Josh is a manager at a grocery store, which I think is so cool.”
How do your friends respond to your career success?
“My first job was a modeling job. Once I was old enough to tell my friends about it, I told them I was a model, and they said, ‘Hey that’s pretty cool.’ I mostly had friends that were girls, and they all think it’s really cool that I’m a model and an actor. I have some guy friends, but most of my friends are girls because they’re more hyper and more fun to be with.
“I’ve really been working for the past two years that I’ve been here and three years when I was in Florida, but I took a break from when I was in kindergarten to when I was 8. But I made my mom get back into the business. I saw this agency in a newspaper, and they took me on and gave me lessons, but they did nothing for me. I moved to Miami, and that’s really when I started working every day — in Miami.”
What sorts of characters do you play in shows and movies?
“I’ve played the bully in a lot of shows, actually, which is weird because I’m actually a really nice guy in real life. I think it’s because I’ve hung out with girls all my life, they’ve always taught me to be gentlemanly. So, I guess it’s just so fun for me to be a bully because it’s the exact opposite of who I am, and I actually get to act.
“I just did a cartoon pilot for Cartoon Network. I did a children’s news show called ‘Kids Line,’ and I was the extreme sports anchorman.”
Do you prefer movie acting or TV acting?
“I like movies because it’s a big thing, and it’s at a movie theater. It’s one of the biggest things you can do. But I also like a TV show because you’re constantly there. With a movie, you’re there with your friends for sometimes three months, and then when you leave that movie, it’s sort of like leaving your family behind. It’s the same way with a play. I’ve done over 45 plays, and every time I did a play, we’d rehearse for four or five months, then we’d have a performance for a month or two, and I’d get so sad when it all ended. I’d have to go do another play with all my same friends.
“But a TV show, every year, you get to be with your friends. It’s also a constant paycheck, so you don’t have to worry about that. Because with a movie, you don’t know if you’re going to be working for another six or seven months. I definitely like TV better, but movies are easily about one point behind, just because I have to leave my friends behind.”
What do you do for fun? “I’m working on my cartoon, ‘Zoey 101,’ and I teach my classes. I’m working on that intensely, because I want my class to be known. I’m hoping to open up my new studio and have casting directors do seminars for kids and stuff.
“I’m really into helping little kids. Little kids are the most important thing in the acting industry because they’re what’s next. They’re the next generation of acting. Teaching is so fun because all the kids look up to me. It makes their day if not their week or month to be working with a TV star. That’s sort of why I want to direct films one day: I learn myself when I teach.
“I also do all sorts of extreme sports like barefoot water skiing and wake boarding and jet skiing, and I’m hopefully going to go skydiving soon. I go surfing like every weekend. I work almost every day, though. I’m usually working five days a week, so it’s hard to find time to do all that.”
Do you find it difficult having a full-time job?
“I love doing it. When I’m not on set, that’s when I’m the most bored. I love being on set, and I find it so fun to be behind the camera, in front of the camera, anywhere I am on set, it’s so much more fun. I was home schooled last year, and it was really boring for me because I didn’t have any friends to talk to. Because of that, I learned to cherish what I had on set. It really meant a lot more to me. Being on set is my life now. But next year I hope to be going to a regular school.”
What keeps you going? “I get this big rush when I’m on camera. I feel like it’s my calling. It’s what I do.”
Do you think you’ve experienced the childhood of an average kid?
“I definitely had a normal kid’s life. My mom made sure of that. She made sure that I went to regular school. Last year was the only year that I wasn’t in school because of the show ‘Zoey 101.’ I was always on the school’s baseball team, football team, basketball team. I was always on YMCA sports teams. I had everything a normal kid had, just a little bit more — I had acting.”
What are your plans for the future? “I’m hoping to be a director/producer/actor when I grow up. Because I’ve been on set with the TV show, it’s really allowed me to see what they do behind the scenes, and I really like what they do. I’d want to be a director/producer because, though I like all the jobs behind the scenes, the director gets to plan out all the scenes, and the producer is like, well, he’s like God. I get to do some minor writing input now as an actor, but nothing big.”
How are you working toward your goals?
“Recently I’ve been making this stunt video with my friends. I’m on my second episode. They’re only like a minute and 53 seconds, and this one is two minutes and 58 seconds, which will be the entire song of Green Day’s ‘American Idiot.’
“I have a whole bunch of stunts. I’m supposed to be the director/actor/video producer, and I find a whole bunch of people to just do crazy stuff.”
Where do you see yourself in a few years?
“When I turn 18, I’m going to go to college at NYU. New York University is the most prestigious college for what I want to do — acting, directing and producing.
“My mom says that you usually live in the place you’re going to college. That’s not me. I’ve lived here in California for two years already, and I still want to live in Florida. It’s just a nice community over there. Cops are even your friends there.”
Do you like California and Santa Monica?
“I really like California, but the beaches and the water is kind of dirty, but back in Florida the water was like a pool. You could jump in it, and it wouldn’t taste nasty.
“You could see all the sea turtles and the fish swimming around in the coral reefs, but I love it here because the weather here just changes so dramatically within a couple of miles. I’ve never actually seen snow, so I’ve never gone skiing or snowboarding, but I’m hoping to go when I get time.
“Santa Monica is so nice and quiet, and so non-acting. I want to have a normal environment. I don’t want to live in Studio City where all the studios are or anything like that. Santa Monica’s just a more normal environment. I’m here, on the Promenade, and I’m sitting here on the second biggest kids show on cable right now, and I haven’t had one person come up to me. Santa Monica’s so laid back like that. They really don’t care. That’s why I live here. Also because of the beach and the weather. I go surfing all the time.”
Do you miss Florida? “Yeah, I miss Florida a lot. I’m hoping to move back after the season ends, and then I’ll move back when the next season begins. I’ll keep that house for like a summer home. I’d hang out, go to the beach, hang out with friends, surf every day, and be with my family— because all of my family lives out there, besides my two brothers. My sister lives out there, and my two brothers live with me.”
How important a role has your family played in your career?
“I don’t think many parents would do what mine did — like, quit their job for their kid. My mom would do anything for any of her four kids. I just find that — well, she’s like super mom.
“There are too many stage-moms out there. A stage mom is a mom who’s always asking other kids what they’re doing, what they plan to be doing, and they push their kids too much. They try and sabotage other kids’ career to try and get their kid’s up. And I hate that. My mom tries to stay away from everybody. If she could, she wouldn’t talk to anybody. She wants to do it all fair game. She’s such a good sport; she’s such a good mom. I don’t even understand why these other parents push so hard. I just find it so mean.
“My family means the most to me out of anybody because they’ve given up so much just for me. I’ll try and do anything I can. Like, if they want something, they’ve got it. I want to do anything I can to repay them for what they’ve done for me.”
Who do you admire most? “My idol is my uncle because he’s just the coolest guy ever. He does everything he’d ever want to do. He goes on vacation maybe seven or eight times a year, but he’s not a really rich guy. He just plans his life out so well and he can do anything he wants. That’s kind of like what I want to do — to have fun all the time, whatever I’m doing. I want to be everyone’s friend in college, I want to make people happy everyday.”
How do you respond to your fans? “I’m always really nice to fans because I feel that my fans are the biggest thing for my career because if I don’t have any fans, I won’t have a big career. Whenever I’m not doing anything, I open up my phone and answer fan mail. Like right now I have 257 messages just from this morning.”
What do you do when you don’t get a part?
“I forget about it, or I just go party with the person who does get the job. I tell them, ‘Good job.’ I would call them up and say, ‘Good job, that’s so cool.’ One of the big reasons I do acting is for the competition in the auditions. My mom wants me to get to that point where I don’t have to do auditions, and I’d love to get to that point, but I still want to audition because it’s so much fun for me to be in that competition. I do care whether or not I get the part, but I know I’ve got another audition the next day. And while it’s still in the back of my mind, I know I’ve got my show. I always want more, though.”
At what point did you know that you had what it took to succeed in Hollywood?
“I knew I had what it took about a year before I came out here. I was actually planning on going to New York, because we heard that that was the big place to go. But my agent called me up that day like a year after I got that feeling that I should move on to bigger things, and said, ‘Hey, you’re going to LA,’ not even asking.
“We sold our house within a week, put our stuff in storage and drove out here. It took us eight days to get here. We came here with really nothing. We didn’t know things would be so expensive in Santa Monica. When my brother came out, we got a bigger place, though. By the time my family came out, I had been getting a good number of jobs and that got a lot better.”
What might you tell another young actor who has not had the same success you have had?
“Never, ever, ever give up. Because the hardest thing to overcome is giving up. I went to thousands of auditions in my career, and I’ve booked maybe one tenth of them. It’s really hard not to give up. You get that thought of giving up all the time. If you just think about doing a couple more auditions and tell yourself that you can do it, you’ll get the chance to do something big. Once you get that chance, if you don’t give it all you’ve got, it’s pretty much you giving up. If you try hard for it, you’ll get more and more because people will recognize how much you want it.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 25, 2005. Read the original PDF.