The Cast of Summerland: Kay Panabaker

Okay, take yourself back to the beach. We're still in Malibu in our beach chair, the waves are crashing on the shore and the cast and crew of the new WB summer series "Summerland" are shooting a scene down the way a bit. What is this, a mirage walking toward us or a very enthusiastic, outspoken, cute, and friendly 13-year-old Kay Panabaker in orange tee, cut-offs and braids?

Kay plays 12-year-old Nikki who loves auntie Ava (Lori Loughlin) but isn't too happy that she's trying to take the place of the mom Nikki recently lost. Kay is...well, a genius. At 13, she has just begun college classes and she talks like an adult. She has lived in Texas like her co-star Taylor Cole but Kay is already a t.v. and film veteran. She's been in cop thriller Dead Heat and had roles in "Angel", "The Brothers Garcia", "7th Heaven", "The Division", "Port Charles", and "ER" and the young actress has provided a voice for the animated film Monsters Inc.

Kay loves to chat, loves her new show and we had no problem getting her to spill the beans on fellow cast members, her other professional work, her first screen kiss, plans for prom, fun activities and studies.

TeenHollywood: How did you hear about this part and get the role of Nikki?

Kay: My agent sent me out on it. He said 'hey there's this pilot, Lori Laughlin came up with the idea you should really give it a try'. I said "sure why not?" (The part) was really close to me. I had a cool aunt who sends me makeup, wears makeup, and gets her hair done. I love my mom but she doesn't wear makeup, likes to stand in the background, doesn't want to interfere with anything. I went in and Lori was there. A month later my agent called and said "Hey, do you remember "Summerland" and I said "yeah that's the pilot with the cool aunt and the beach" and he goes "yeah, well you're testing on it". So I went and I had a great time. All the girls were talking nonchalantly and all the boys had rolled up their scripts and were hitting each other with them.

TeenHollywood: But, you got the part! Are you some sort of genius? Are you graduating High School already?

Kay: Apparently so! Yeah. I'm going to college. I'm taking Chemistry , English, and PE at Glendale Community College.

TeenHollywood: Are you good in science?

Kay: I'm pretty good. I'm averaging a B. Which is pretty good because I've never taken chemistry in my life. It's been a struggle to get there but I do get there pretty often and one teacher is really good. He's like "Oh you're into the acting thing, your schedule is pretty hectic. Here I'll give you the test." I don't go to school but there is a studio teacher on the set and she can proctor (give you) the test. That's actually how it's been happening and it's really good.

TeenHollywood: What would you like to end up with a major in?

Kay: I'm thinking of a major in business because that's a really marketable degree and then a minor in something that I really love like English.

TeenHollywood: How different is this cast than the "Angel" cast?

Kay: It's very different, on "Angel" I was the only kid so I kind of "okay, I'm a kid, I'm sitting in my chair, I'm very quiet". But here I can be as loud as I want, as big as I want, I can do whatever I want pretty much, within boundaries. It's definitely different because when you're a guest star you don't want to be invading anybody's space. Here, Nick(Benson who plays Derrick) is like my little brother and I love him. Jesse (McCartney)'s like an older brother and I'm constantly telling him to pull his pants up and his shirt down- his boxers are showing. Lori is so great, she brings her kids to set.

TeenHollywood: Who's your best bud on the show?

Kay: On the show my little brother is like my best bud. But I'm going to my prom with Jesse as my date. We're going in a big group. My sister's taking a friend of hers, her best friend and my best friend is taking a friend of hers and then I'm taking Jesse so we're all six gonna go have a blast together.

TeenHollywood: Your character Nikki has just lost her mom. Have you ever lost a family member?

Kay: I've lost a dog. I was up in Vancouver shooting a movie and he was having problems before I left but I was like "he's sixteen. He'll live to be like seventeen" but on a Friday we had to put him to sleep because of a liver problem, he was having major problems, he was in pain and I found out on Tuesday. They didn't want to interfere, now I understand that, I understand that he was in a lot of pain. I was ten. I was soo mad. I was saying "why didn't you let him stay? I was going to be home on Tuesday". I understand it now, then I was heartbroken.

TeenHollywood: Taylor (Cole)'s from Texas and you were in Texas for a while. Did you guys talk about that at all?

Kay: No I've never talked about that. I used to live in Georgia and a lot of different areas. I was born in Texas, moved to Pennsylvania, moved to Georgia, moved to Illinois, moved here so everywhere is like my home town. I've gotten really used to making friends, I make friends really easily.

TeenHollywood: What kind of music do you like?

Kay: I listen to everything, I listen to classical when I'm trying to do my homework and oldies when mom's in the car. She's into pop too. I like Christina Aguilera's voice. I'm not big on her image but her voice is beautiful. I went to the Jingle Ball and that was really fun and Britney was the only one who lip-synced but she did her whole dance routine which was cool. She was really good in the beginning she had this really innocent look and now she's not so great.

TeenHollywood: Who would be like your dream actor that you would like to work with?

Kay: Johnny Depp. He is soo cute. Through SAG I saw him talk and he was so different from his characters so that's why I'd like to work with him because he just becomes the character. Johnny Depp didn't play Captain Jack Sparrow he WAS Captain Jack Sparrow. And he seems really, really nice.

TeenHollywood: What would you like to see happen to your character on the show?

Kay: In the third episode I got my very first kiss ever, on screen or off screen. He was actually here today, his name's Zack. At first I was like "I'm kissing a boy, what's that all about?" but then it was "oh , well I can do this" and after we did it the first time I was like "hmm, do I get a second kiss in the next episode?" Then in the third script I get a kiss and I'm very excited about that. I bond with Nick and Jesse but not as much on screen and I'd like to see more of that. Jesse and I have a couple of moments where it's brotherly/sisterly love and fighting – we actually got in to a fist fight! I'd like more bonding with Nick and Jesse. With Nick (her little bro) off screen I'm always hugging and kissing him, I love him.

TeenHollywood: Tell us your most embarrassing moment.

Kay: I've got a good one. I was in a chorus group that met in the morning before school from like 6:15 to 7:45 and my sister always gave me hand me downs. She gave me this one pants and the back pocket was almost completely ripped off and you could see my underwear. I put them in a pile not to wear. I go to school and we sing and we sit down and it gets all quiet and someone says "hey Kay did you know that you have a hole in the back of your pants?" and I was like "yeah right" and I was like. 'Oh no. I put them on! This is the wrong pair of pants'. I didn't have flashy underwear. It was just white but it was still really embarrassing and everybody heard her. I took off my sweater and all day, tied it around my waist and I kept checking to make sure it was covering the hole.

TeenHollywood: What do you think you'd be doing if you weren't acting?

Kay: Going to public school. I thought about being a teacher I love kids. I also thought about working with monkeys, like chimpanzees, maybe researching them or working with them on screen. I don't know what but they've just always fascinated me.

TeenHollywood: What's the best advice anybody ever gave you and what was it?

Kay: My mom has always given me great advice. Like "don't let fame get to you" which she's taken very good care not to (let me do). She's also told me 'everybody needs to find a friend, a good friend that you can tell them anything and your secrets won't be told'. She's also said 'when you're looking for a guy don't go for his looks, or because he's popular, look for a really good best friend who's a guy'.

TeenHollywood: What do you think you do well in life and what do you think you do pretty badly?

Kay: I sing very badly. Jesse is the singer of the group by far. I could if I really tried if it's a song I knew in a key I could sing. I'm really good with school. I sleep really well, I love to sleep, I walk the dog pretty well too.

TeenHollywood: What's your favourite activity to do with friends?

Kay: If it's with a girl we do makeup, hair, gab, watch movies, play games, I love to play monopoly. My best friend from Chicago came for a week and we played like eight games of monopoly. She won four and I won four. If it's a guy – watch movies, play games, go on the computer, I love to ride bikes. When I was in Chicago, one of my really good friends was a guy, and we'd go bike riding in the summer and in the winter we'd go sledding. He'd bring my school papers when I missed. People thought that we were dating, so towards the end he started being mean to me just because he didn't want people to think that we were dating. That was kind of hard for me just because he was my one really good friend besides this girl who I only saw at dance.

TeenHollywood: Yeah, guys do that. What do you enjoy more? Making a movie or making a series?

Kay: I definitely like the series because it lasts longer and I become too attached to people to say "okay that was a good six weeks goodbye everybody" that's really hard for me. I bond really easily with people especially when they are close to my age like Nick. People say he's 9 going on 35.

TeenHollywood: Favourite Junk food?

Kay: I like kit kat bars, I like Reese's, I like chips. It doesn't help that our craft service truck is like a candy store. They've got stuff to make sandwiches but they've got shelves, and shelves of candy and at first I was like "oohhh candy" but then after a while I just come after lunch for some dessert.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.