My kids have met a few celebrities in their time. They chatted to Toni Collette in an elevator. They met the Madden brothers at the beach. They caught up with Simon Baker on the set of The Mentalist (“My sister calls you Simon Bacon!” my elder daughter cried). And they met the entire cast of Modern Family as the director happens to be a close friend.
But nothing, nothing compared to the excitement my daughters felt when told they would be meeting Victoria.
Victoria Justice – the nineteen year old singing, dancing and acting star of the Nickelodeon series Victorious – was visiting Sydney on a promotional tour. I was going to interview her, and yes, my eleven year old and five year old were allowed to accompany me.
They were breathless with anticipation.
Victorious, a show created specifically for Justice, focuses on a group of students at the fictitious Hollywood School of the Arts. Like it’s mainstream counterpart Glee, the students sing, dance and get in and out of trouble (and the odd romantic entanglement). Unlike Glee, the students are played by real teenagers. The script is sharp and funny, with humour sophisticated enough to keep me laughing along with my kids. (Then again, I laugh at Spongebob, so that probably isn’t saying much.)
In person, Victoria is much more petite than on TV, but as impeccably behaved as one would expect a Nickelodeon star to be. She obligingly ate Vegemite for other journalists, answered questions about the Australian weather with good cheer, and smiled enthusiastically throughout our entire interview.
It must be constraining to be a Nickelodeon star, I noted. Is there certain conduct that is expected of you?
“Yeah, it’s something that you have to keep in mind,” she replied cheerily. “In a lot of ways it’s probably kept me in check. I have to be so aware of the fan base and respect the Nickolodeon brand.”
But it must do amazing things for your ego to have an entire show created for you?
