Chris Trousdale Interview - continuation

We saw you on July 16^th in NYC- Central Park, your show was just spectacular! We loved it!  You’re such a natural on the stage.  Have you always liked performing?
Thank you! I’ve always always liked to be the center of attention.  My mom used to bug me and say, “Chris stop being so obnoxious.” I would say,“mom I love it.” I used to always love to perform.  I loved to move andjust go crazy. I did everything. I used to tap, anything that would make noise and make people snap their heads, I used to love to try. 

Do you still tap?
No I haven’t done it in probably 4 years but I could probably go back to it easily. 

On a show day what is your routine like?
I wake up in enough time so that my voice gets warmed up. It helps to
talk a lot, my voice is best at night.  I make sure I have enough time. 
You can’t warm up when you first wake up because it will hurt your
voice unless you start off really really slow.  So I take it really easy whenI get up.  I take a nice shower, do my hair, pick out my clothes, and see what I’m supposed to do. It’s like getting ready for a school day, only you’re going to be in front of people, a lot of people so….it’s
more fun probably. I rehearse the day before and then when we
get to the show we’ll work at it again. 

How long does it take you to learn one of those dance routines?
Well now because I’ve been with Claudia so long, it doesn’t take that 
long at all. Probably about 2 days or 3 days to learn the whole thing. 
We learned “Play It Like That” in 2 days.  I think that one was the last one.  I think the one before that was Turn it Up. They’re all cool, 
thanks to Claudia.  

We heard that you enjoy writing music.  What do you use for your inspiration for these songs?
Yeah I love it!  Whenever I write something it’s never the whole song.  I always get caught up in a chorus. I can write this whole chorus on my computer at home and then I get really tired of it.  Then I’ll move on to something else.  So I’ve yet to write an entire song through and through with instruments and vocals.  I like writing but it’s probably best if I sit down with a professional song writer. 

There are 2 songs on my album that I worked out a lot of the kinks 
in, “Love’s Gonna Getcha” and “ The Dream Is Gone” and I said, “put 
more of this in, put more of that in.” I wrote a lot of the music in the 
sense choosing which sounds I liked, the rhythms, and which instruments fit best. I helped write the sound of 2 or 3 of my songs but Berny and Kevin were actually the writers of the songs and they totally let me letloose on them.  They’re the ones who I really worked with in the writing. The other songs were all other writers and it was cool.  But I always had something to say if I didn’t like it.  It’s good. They would let me say whatever I want. 

What is the best compliment you’ve ever received?
I think it was probably from Louie, my manager, because after a really
long show day, for one of my bigger shows I signed autographs for
3 ½ hours and everyone was waiting for me. Then on the ride home
Louie would say, “wow you really stuck it out. You really spent time
with them.” It’s not like I even need a compliment for that but for him
to encourage me and make me feel like I did something good really
helps me feel good. It’s different to feel something and then have
someone actually notice it and say something about it. It makes
me feel great about what I do. 

What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
My greatest strength is my endurance. I can last for a long long
time. My weaknesses….wow, I don’t know what my weakness is. 
Probably just getting distracted, not frustrated but sometimes I
just need the down time, say relaxing at home for two days if I
do have two days to do nothing.  I’ll take that time and literally
be the biggest slob.  I won’t pick up my room.  I’ll just throw my
clothes on the floor, I won’t make my bed.  I love it. It’s great. 
It’s fun to just be a mess.


What’s the nicest thing someone has done for you?
I think there’s been, so many things that people have done for
me that have been really sweet so I can’t really name one but
probably just encouragement.  Anyone who has given me any
type of encouragement.  That’s the nicest thing anyone can do
for another person. 

Who’s the greatest influence in your life and why?
I think Louie is my greatest influence ( laughs ) just because,
I’ve watched him day to day since I was 13 in Dream Street. 
I saw how he handled things, even when he got knocked down
by people he just always always comes back and never lets anybody
discourage him.  In any aspect of strength, Louie has it.  He has
so much strength, mentally, physically. It’s really great. 

What do you see yourself doing in 5 years?
I see myself so so so famous * laughs * but not just famous but
so content with career choice, content with life and my family. I
really want to have a really well connected family.  I’m connected
with them now, but I want it even more so. I really want to get a
good family reunion, together in 5 years. I want to have stability
in my life, to be comfortable.  Nowadays, I don’t know what my
schedule is going to be like from day to day. The sky’s the limit.
It’s a good feeling but I also want some type of stability in 5 years.
I want to have two or three albums out in five years.

What do you like to do when you’re not rehearsing?
I like to go take a good hip-hop class.  I just want to sweat until
I feel like I’m going to pass out.  So just let it all out, and learn a
whole routine of some new songs my teacher teaches.  And it’s
really good because I take classes with the best dancers in the
videos.  One of the girls in it (she’s been in a music video),  is
so good.  I take classes with her everyday. There are a lot of good
dancers in my class so it keeps me motivated. The class is so hard,
really hard, it’s scary!

We know you always have the best clothes and style! 
Where do you get your fabulous fashion sense from?
Claudia.  She taught me, when I was in Dream Street, she would
talk about how people dressed. She showed me what was cool and
what wasn’t. She taught me her rules of dressing well.  On tour,
she’d bring these magazines with us with hit or miss in fashion,
who hit it or who missed it.  It was so much fun, it was like a game
with us.    For guys it can be really annoying to go shopping and it
can be stressful too! They don’t make good clothes for guys so
there’s no variety.  Claudia made it fun and more interesting. 
She got me into it.

We’ve heard so many different answers.  What is your heritage/nationality?
Well my background is Greek and something called Black Irish. 
It’s an ethnic Irish. It’s not the blonde haired blue eyed Irish. 
My mom can almost look Spanish.  She has really dark dark eyes.
So it’s basically like an Italian Irish or a Spanish Irish.  It’s dark. 
So yeah, Greek and Black Irish. 



Half and half?
Yeah I think…my dad is full Greek and my mom’s Black Irish.

Do you speak any other languages?
Not completely and utterly fluently but I speak a lot of Spanish. 
I took it in school.  A lot of my friends were Spanish growing up.
I know Claudia teaches me so much Portuguese. I actually pick up
a lot of that. I’m really good with languages.

We know that since you’re in the entertainment business
you’ve had to be home schooled or tutored.  What was that
like for you?
My tutors were always the best.  There was a woman named Alli
and a lady named Kate. They were both awesome. One of my other
tutors, Nancy was like a mom to me. She helped me get a 96% on
my U.S. history regents.  And then an 89% on my English regents,
no it was the opposite! Wait, I forget.  But yeah, everyone was shocked that I got those high scores with working so much.  It was really awesome. 

Do you have any hidden talents?
Yeah I have a lot of hidden talents but I can’t say a lot of them. 
I’m kidding * laughs * I’m just jokin, I’m just jokin.  I can…I don’t
know, what is my hidden talent.  I can fly! No I’m kidding.  Ok hold
on, let me think.  I really wanted to be in politics a lot.  Unlike most
people when they don’t like somebody, they’re so evil and nasty,
I’m not like that.  I’m very political with it. I approach it in a different
way. If it doesn’t work, I move on to the next stage.  That’s my way
of handling people.  So growing up in school, it was really difficult
because most people would be quick to say I hate you.  I wasn’t like
that, I was the opposite.  It drove my enemy crazy because they were
like (because you wouldn’t give it back) right!  So people are always
scared, they wouldn’t think I’d be like that.  People are always scared to cross me, fans sometimes say I don’t want to bug or bother him. 
But no one ever bothers me, ever. The only one that could ever
possibly get me annoyed, get me frustrated would be Louie
because Louie has to do that.  People in general, they can’t
really get to me. 

What are the top 3 qualities you look for in a friend?
The top three qualities I look for in a friend are loyalty,
constant love, appreciation and devotion, and then the
third is probably common interests and someone you have
that ying and yang with. You can  feed off of each other’s
energy, connecting the best.

How old were you when you moved to NYC?
I was 11 because I moved into NY to do Les Mis on Broadway. 

If you had a visitor coming in from out of town,
where would you take them?
I would take them to all the touristy places first and then to the heart
of Manhattan showing them what makes Manhattan different from every other place, take them to those places. 

When you were filming TBF, what did you use as far as
techniques for memorizing lines?  Was it easy for you?
Lines were kind of difficult to memorize but what always helps
is to have tricks that trigger your memory like when you’re
studying for a test. 

What would you say was the funniest moment on the
set of the Biggest Fan?
Probably when Kaila had to trip and fall in the kitchen scene because
it was actually really hard for her to trip, you have to make it look real
it’s really hard.  She had a little padding thing (to trip over). Most of
the time when we started the scene it looked like she was trying to
fall.  They actually put something in her way so when she’d walk
she’d just naturally trip, and it was funny because one time she
actually tripped and it was a real trip. You knew it was and I literally
laughed. I think that’s the take that they used.  I had food in my
mouth and the first time she tripped I spit it all over her and it landed
on her on the ground.  She tripped and it was funny and they were
like keep going but then she goes “you just spit food all over me”
so they had to yell cut!!  She got up and there was food, there
was scrambled eggs in her hair, it was funny. 

We really love TBF and think you’re just a spectacular
actor!  Anymore movies for you in the future?  
Yeah I plan on doing a lot more, I think I’m going to do a film this
fall so we’ll keep you updated on that.  (asks Louie about the film
explaining it’s a horror film) It’s really creepy, so I hope I’m in that,
we’ll see about that.  Such a different type of film huh? I think I
would play a killer too.  Wouldn’t that be creepy? It’s like the least
expected right? It’d be really creepy.  (versatile actor) yeah exactly!
That’s why I want to do it. 

In a recent radio interview, you said you’ll be doing a
Christmas Tour.  That sounds so exciting!  Please tell me
more about that.
Yes I am! On BLI I announced the Christmas tour, I’m going to be
touring all of the country. In each state I’m going to ask fans during
the break to bring gifts.  These will be for children in hospitals who
are too sick to go home for Christmas.  If they bring the gift, I’ll give
them an extra kiss on the cheek or something. As opposed to me just
giving gifts, it’ll be from the kids, and they’re doing a good deed.
They can even write a get well soon message to the person who’s
receiving the gift. That kid will feel great just knowing the gift is
from another kid. If they want, they can give an email address so
they can talk to the child who receives their gift. We haven’t really
figured everything out, but there are so many possibilities and
benefits of it.

How about your CD, how is that working out?
It’s done well basically just trying to get it the biggest release. 
We’re not delaying it; we’re just taking our time with it. We want
to make sure we have every TV channel. We want everyone to you
know plug it, I don’t know how to put it but, so Valentine’s Day I
hope it will be out.  I’m pretty sure though because it’s been enough
time so that works out well.  It’ll be awesome.

Support Chris!

The Biggest Fan DVD	The Biggest Fan CD	Dream Street Live DVD

Exclusive Chris Trousdale interview, part 2.