Josie Loren: JJJ Exclusive Interview

Check out our exclusive interview with Josie Loren! The 25-year-old actress told JJJ about the Nautica Malibu Triathlon that she’s running in this month and much more! Check it:

JJJ: It’s so exciting that you’re going to be participating in a triathlon. Can you tell us a bit about it?
JL: I’ll be participating in the triathlon as part of a team. I’m doing the four mile run, which is the last leg of the race. All the money raised goes to benefit Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

JJJ: That’s great! How have you been preparing for the big race?
JL: I do a bootcamp in Los Angeles that focuses on cardio, so I’m going to commit to going three times a week leading up to it. I’ve also started running outside because running on a treadmill is a lot easier than outdoors.

JJJ: Before you started acting, you minored in Spanish at UCLA, which sounds like so much fun! Can you speak it fluently?
JL: Yes! Out of my four brothers and sisters though, I’m the worst. I speak it well, but sometimes I get stuck and they make fun of me for that.

Click inside to read the rest of Josie‘s interview...

JJJ: Was there any TV show and actress growing up that made you want to get into the industry?
JL: To be honest, I didn’t watch a lot of TV growing up. My mom didn’t allow us to watch it at all during the weekdays and on the weekends we were very busy with activities. I fell in love with theatre before I got into TV. I started acting on the stage when I was five-years-old and continued until I moved out to L.A. when I was eighteen. I loved musicals, so the actors that inspired me to get into the business were people like Julie Andrews, Sutton Foster (who’s now on Bunheads) and Norbert Leo Butz. I was and still am a total theatre geek.

JJJ: Since you played an aspiring Olympic gymnast on the show Make It or Break It, did you have a different perspective watching the Fierce Five compete this year?
JL: Absolutely. As I watched these girls, I was hyper aware of the road they had traveled to get to London. I don’t think that most people stop to think about the fact that these girls have been working for years to make their dreams come true. For the spectators, it’s a show that we get to watch for a few weeks. For the athletes, it’s their whole life. I was aware of the long and hard road these girls have been traveling. I couldn’t stop thinking about what they’ve sacrificed and how hard they’ve worked to be a member of the U.S. Team. I had a much deeper respect for them as I watched the Olympics this time around.

JJJ: People may not know this, but you’re a former cheerleader! Because of you’re athletic background, did you do any of your own stunts on MIOBI?
JL: I did very basic tricks like round-offs or front handsprings. They didn’t want to take a chance and have us get hurt.

JJJ: Has having that competitive spirit and endurance from cheering helped you in the industry at all?
JL: Definitely. Competitive cheerleading is no joke. When I was on Top Gun I would be picked up at school and taken straight to the gym. My weeks were packed with practice, private coaching, and tumbling classes. Saturdays too! I would get home around 9:30pm, shower and start my homework. It was a grueling schedule that taught me how to grin and bear it. Five years later when I moved to L.A. and was going to school and acting full time so I knew how to handle the pressure and stick it out.

JJJ: Top Gun All Stars is one of the top teams in the country! Do you have a favorite cheerleading memory?
JL: Yeah, they’re the best! Cheering for them was an honor. My favorite memory was during a regional competition. I’ll preface this by saying that I had never been a part of a real team before Top Gun. One day I told my coach that as long as I did well, I didn’t care about my teammate’s performance. Fast forward to that regional competition where I did very well, but one of our stunts fell. I went up to my coach and I was crying. He asked me why I was crying if I had done so well and I said because our stunt fell and they’re a part of me. He grabbed me by the shoulders and said, “You just learned what it means to a part of a team. Welcome to Top Gun.”

JJJ: What would your ideal acting role be?
JL: After being on a drama for four years, I would love to land a fantastic sitcom with amazing writers. It would be a new, different challenge. Plus, those are such a blast!

JJJ: Fairy tales seem to be all the rage right now. What classic story would you love to be in an adaptation of and what character would you play?
JL: I loved Thumbelina as a kid! They made a cartoon version of it that I watched incessantly when I was little. It would be awesome to play her!

JJJ: Who’s your Hollywood crush at the moment?
JL: I like to be original, but this guy just seems to be on every girl’s list. Ryan Gosling is definitely my #1 Hollywood crush at the moment. I once saw him at The Getty. I was with my boyfriend at the time and he was like, “Oh come on Josie! You can at least try to hide it in front of me!

JJJ: You recently started a blog! What sort of fun things will you be sharing with fans on there?
JJ: Right now my blog is my baby. It’s called Keep It Kind and I’m using it as a
space where people can talk about the acts of kindness they’re experiencing in their community. I want to motivate my fans as well as myself to engage in acts of kindness every day no matter how small they may be. Those actions are just as important as the more grand gestures we may hear about and I believe people should be recognized for them. I will definitely be talking about the Nautica Malibu Triathlon on the blog.

JJJ: What’s something your fans would be surprised to know about you?
JL: I’m claustrophobic. When I was on Make It or Break It I almost passed out as they were attaching a big camera to my body. I had to wear this heavy, metal harness that they had to screw tight once it was on. It went south quickly and they had to find another way to shoot the scene.

JJJ: If you could only shop at one store for the rest of your life, where would it be?
JL: Target! They have everything and their stuff is great! I think it’s everyone’s experience that you’ll walk into Target for toilet paper and walk out with $300 worth of goodies. I love that place.