Pajama Party - Girls and Teens Who Rock the World

From A Girl's World - Summer 1999

Michelle Trachtenberg is living one of my dreams -- to act! Michelle started appearing in newspaper ads as a baby and charmed the TV ad world in her first commercial, an ad for Wisk detergent, when she was just three years old. She has an amazing memory -- years later, Michelle can still sing the Wisk jingle from that commercial!

Starring in Disney's Inspector Gadget and in the upcoming, Can't Be Heaven (1999), Michelle has also been in "Richie Rich's Christmas Wish" (1998), "Figure It Out" (1997-98) TV Series, "Maggie" in CBS's "Meego" (1997).

Or you might remember Michelle's fabulous performances in "Harriet the Spy"(1996), "Christmas in Our Town" (1996), Nickelodeon's fast and fun "Adventures of Pete & Pete" (1993) or on ABC's soap "All My Children" (1994-1996), where she played Lily Montgomery, an autistic girl.

If you keep your eye on the tube, you'll see Michelle all over the place, with guest appearances on "Rosie", "Law and Order," "Saturday Night Live," and Nickelodeon's "Clarissa Explains It All."

Girl's World reporter, Sara and I managed to catch up with Michelle after the opening of "Harriet the Spy", her first feature film. In the movie, Michelle stars as a curious spy who writes down everything her friends and neighbors do (and exactly what she thinks about them) in a special journal. When Harriet's journal falls into the wrong hands, Harriet nearly loses her closest friends -- a fate every girl dreads!

Michelle took time out from a busy schedule to talk to you about two of the most important things in her life -- acting and friends! So check it out! Click on and hang with Michelle Trachtenberg!

Becoming an Actress

Sara: How did you become an actress?

Michelle: Well, I became an actress because I met my manager in the city one time when she was having an open class, and she liked me. She sent me on my first audition, which was a commercial for Wisk detergent. And I happened to get that commercial, and so then I got more commercials, and then I did print pictures for magazines. And then I moved on to TV and stuff, and then I moved on to movies. So I've been acting for seven or eight years now, since I was three years old.

Sara: Do you take any special classes that help you with your acting?

Michelle: No. I never took acting classes or lessons in my life.

Sara: What do you like the most about being an actress?

Michelle: What I like the most about acting is that you can be any character. You can be anywhere in the world. You can be a writer. You can be a director. You can even play an actress. You can be absolutely anybody -- that's what playing a role is all about.

With every character [you play], you remember that character and you get to see the character's life through the eyes of that character. [When the role you play is finished] you move on, but you get to keep a little bit of the last character that you played -- it stays with you.

In the Movies

Sara: "Harriet the Spy" is your very first movie. How did you like working in movies?

Michelle: Filming a movie was a lot of fun. It was a great experience for me. When I was working on the set, I got to see how everything works. All the camera equipment, all the angles [they shoot], how long it takes. Did you know two or three days of shooting would be two or three minutes in the movie? I found that really amazing! Shooting a movie was a lot of fun to do all by itself.

Sara: What's your day like when you're working?

Michelle: It depends... If my call time is early in the morning, I'd get up, get dressed, and somebody would come to pick me up in a car. I'd go to the set and eat my breakfast and look over my lines for the day, and then we'd start filming. Well, not quite. First I'd go into wardrobe and make-up and hair, and then we'd start filming. I get to take a break for lunch, and I also get school. I definitely get school.

Sara: How do you handle school while you're filming?

Michelle: I get at least three hours a day or more. If it's possible, I get more. Then at the end of the day, when I've got my school hours and we've finished shooting for the day, I go home. I'm in a public school, but I'm in a special program for talented kids [in Brooklyn]. But when I'm on the set, I have a tutor. She talks to my school, and whatever my class is doing, I'm doing. Even though I'm away from them, my tutor gets all the curriculum that the class is doing, so I can do it too. I do the same things and I make up all my work. Sometimes I actually get ahead of my class, which is pretty fun.

Michelle's Acting Tips

Sara: What are some really important skills an actor needs to have?

Michelle: There's a saying that "if you don't succeed, try and try again," and I definitely believe in that. You have to believe in yourself. I think everyone should always remember, if at first you don't succeed, try and try again with a lot of determination.

Sara: What advice would you give other girls thinking about a career as an actress?

Michelle: Well, definitely you should think about being an actress or an actor before you actually pursue it. But you have to remember that there are many sacrifices in becoming an actor, and you have to give up a lot of stuff, but you also get to have a lot of fun. It's very hard work, but at the end you really love it. If you really enjoy acting, then it'll be fun for you.

Rosie: A Cool Actress

Sara: Who's the coolest person you've met working as an actress?

Michelle: Well, I like Rosie O'Donnell. Rosie was really, really sweet. She was funny. She was great. She was so caring, and she was a lot of fun. She was always so nice. We did things from Broadway shows -- we would sing show tunes together, like "Big Red" or "Kiss A Little Longer". I would love to work with her again. She was just a lot of fun. She was so cool and very interesting.

Sara: What's the funniest thing that Rosie did while you were playing Harriet?

Michelle: Well... Rosie, Vanessa, Beverly and I all got into a cherry pit war. They had cherries from craft service, and one time Rosie started to spit cherry pits at us, and then we spit cherry pits back at her, and it turned into a cherry pit war.

Sara: Rachel tells me Rosie gave you something really special on the set...

Michelle: Well, I love to collect things. I like to collect glass bottles, especially ones with interesting shapes. But Rosie actually got me started on collecting Barbies. She got me four Barbies, and she got me ornaments and then a lot of stuff from Barbies, and that started me out.

All About Harriet

Sara: How did you get ready to do a part like "Harriet the Spy"?

Michelle: I had read the books before I knew that they were going to make a movie, so I learned a lot from the books. And what really amazed me was that I saw a lot of myself in Harriet. I can relate to her in so many ways. I really have a lot of things in common with Harriet. We both do things the same way, and I thought I just had to look at myself to be Harriet.

Sara: In what ways are you and Harriet alike?

Michelle: Well, Harriet and I have a lot in common. We both love to read and write. I love to write stories, and I love to read books all the time, and so does Harriet. And we both really do love to eat tomato sandwiches. And we usually wear the same clothing, you know, something comfortable. Harriet is unique. She sets her goals in life, and she usually meets them. That's another way I think we're a lot alike. And we're both extremely curious.

Sara: Do you have a favorite scene in the movie?

Michelle: I have a couple of favorite scenes ... when Golly was leaving, or when Golly tells Harriet the truth -- those are two of my favorite scenes. I loved all of the scenes in the movie, but I think those stuck out.

Sara: Spying on other people is pretty brave. What's the bravest thing you had to do as Harriet?

Michelle: I'm not afraid of heights, but when I hung off a building -- I think that was pretty interesting, hanging off the building. Some people say, "Oh, Michelle, they made the camera do that specially, right? You know, they have those special screens to make it look like you're hanging, right?" No! I was hanging.

All About Michelle

Sara: Do you have any pets?

Michelle: Yes! I have one pet. Her name is Stacy. She's a cat. She's an extremely adorable tabby. A tiger tabby, as a matter of fact.

Sara: What's your favorite food?

Michelle: My favorite food, I've definitely got to say -- and this is true, even before I read the book or the movie -- [is] tomato sandwiches. I love them. And I make them exactly like Harriet does.

I get either a bagel or a bun, put mayonnaise on it, then I slice tomatoes. I put a lot of them on, because I love tomatoes. So I put a lot on the bagel or the bun, on top of the mayonnaise, and then I put a lot of salt on the tomatoes. And then I close the bagel or the bun, and then I gobble it up.

Sara: What do you like to do to treat yourself? Do you have a favorite ice cream or food?

Michelle: I eat fruit a lot. I eat fruit like a lot of kids eat candy. I like plums, or grapes, or oranges, and I like raspberries, strawberries, cherries -- just all different kinds of fruit. My favorite ice cream is vanilla. I love vanilla cakes and ice cream cakes.

Sara: What's your all-time favorite movie?

Michelle: I have a couple of favorite movies. "Grease" is one, and "The Sound of Music", and "Clueless".

Sara: Do you have any hobbies? What do you like to do just for fun?

Michelle: I like to read, and I like to write. I do have a diary. I write about all the different things that I see, stuff that I told my friends, or something that happened. I like to watch TV, and I like to draw in my spare time. But I really like reading. When I first started the "Harriet" books, it opened me to a whole new world. It opened me to somewhere that I could imagine, and it opened me to the joys of using my imagination. You know, it just taught me so many things. It just showed me this whole new world, a great reading world. I've been reading ever since, and I'm above my reading level. I guess reading can make anything possible.

Sara: What do you like to read?

Michelle: Well, I like to read some horror books. I like to read mysteries, and I like to read books about the Nazis. I think that's an interesting topic, and something that children should know more about these days. ... I think that it's terrible, but I find it interesting. ... I'll always read a good mystery, and it'll keep me hanging. And I guess I like horror books a little bit. R.L. Stine is one of my favorite authors, but I don't particularly like his "Goosebumps" series. I prefer his "Fear Street" series

Role Models

Sara: Who do you turn to for help when things get tough?

Michelle: I turn to my mom a lot, or to my sister, because my mom is like my Golly. In the movie Harriet and Golly are extremely close, and they're very attached to each other because Golly is Harriet's mentor and her nanny. But to Harriet, Golly is like her mom because Harriet and her mom were never close. But my mom's like my Golly, and I tell my mom everything, or I tell my sister, Irene. She's seventeen, and she's very cool.

Sara: It must be hard to be away from your family when you are filming. What do you do to stay in touch?

Michelle: Well, my mom comes with me wherever I go. Sometimes my sister comes up to visit, and so does my dad. Otherwise [we] have a really big phone bill.

Goals and Dreams

Sara: What do you want to do in the future? What are your goals and dreams?

Michelle: Well, I'd definitely love to continue being an actress when I grow up, but I'd also like to be a writer. Nowadays a lot of people are writers and actresses and directors, so that is my ultimate goal.

When I grow up I'd like to write my own movie, star in it, and direct it, because now I write my own stories, drama stories. I'd definitely love to continue acting, and I'd definitely love to pursue my writing, because I've always wanted to do something that will make people laugh or cry, or that'll entertain people ... I've always wanted to entertain people in some sort of way. So my ultimate goal would be to write my own movie, star in it, and direct it.

On Friendship

Sara: What do you like to do when you just "hang out" with your girlfriends?

Michelle: We like to talk, and we like to bead. [We] make necklaces and bracelets, and we just basically talk. We play jokes on each other, and we'll have pop quizzes. You know, like, "What did [one of our friends] say in class today? Do you remember?" That's really a lot of fun.

Sara: Do you have a pen pal?

Michelle: My best friend and I are pen pals. She lives very, very close to me in New York, too, so it's not really just being pen pals -- sometimes we get together and just be best friends too. But we write, and that's kind of fun.

Sara: Do you have any advice for the club about having and keeping friends?

Michelle: [Harriet's story taught me a lot] about the value of friendship. I learned that a good friend is hard to find and that you should never let them go. I also learned that you should always tell the truth, unless it might hurt someone.

A Message From Michelle to You

Michelle: With any job, you have to want to do it. If you want to do it, then you'll be successful in it. Let's say you go on an audition for a movie, and you get a call back and another call back and another call back. Then you don't get it, you can't go back. You can't take rejection personally. Maybe your eyes were the wrong color, [or] your hair was a bit darker than it should be. ... It doesn't matter. You have to keep on going and look for the next thing.

Whatever careers you pursue, you have to remember that you always have to try to get whatever you set your goals for. Sometimes it's hard work, but you can do it. Believe in yourself.