The content on this page is (c) TV Guide, transcribed from the copy I bought that contained my cousin's interview.
Speaking Their Minds
by Mary F. Pols
On TV, Larisa Oleynik and Irene Ng seem to be studies in perpetual motion. Oleynik is constantly dodging trouble as a teen with supernatural powers on Nickelodeon's Secret World of Alex Mack, while Ng is a full-time sleuth on The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, another big Nickelodeon hit.
Off-screen, they're just as busy. Oleynik, 16, is a high school junior in northern California swept up in the college-selection process. Ng, 23, is close to completing the demanding premed program at Harvard University and still somehow finds time to volunteer at a Boston-area hospital.
So it took some schedule crunching to get these young women together (their shows tape on opposite coasts) for a chat over fresh juices and mineral water at a trendy Los Angeles caf�. Talk quickly shifted from shoes and slip dresses to much more thoughtful fare as they enthusiastically grappled with the question of television's influence on girls.
TV Guide: What shows do you remember as having good, strong role models for girls when you were younger?
Larisa Oleynik: Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. And Clarissa Explains It All was, like, the mother of all girl- starring shows.
Irene Ng: When I was younger, Clarissa was probably my favorite show with a girl in the lead. But I don't think I really saw her as a role model because I was older than her when I was watching it.
TVG: So what kinds of shows do you like to watch?
Oleynik: I was the biggest fan of My So-Called Life. I have every single episode on tape. I thought it was a really accurate portrayal. I really related to [Angela]. A lot of the episodes, I'd just go, "Oh, my God, I feel like that all the time." Right now I watch a lot of MTV, because I'm addicted to The Real World.
Ng: I've been watching a lot of CNN. Ireally like Crossfire. I also watch a lot of ESPN, especially tennis. I don't really watch a lot of episodic television. I think it is because I have too short of an attention span. I just can't watch something like ER for a whole hour.
TVG: Irene, you lived in Malaysia until you were 14. What kind of television did you watch there?
Ng: I watched a lot of Chinese soap operas. [Laughs] My favorite American show was Three's Company. I didn't understand the words very well, but there was a lot of physical comedy. My aunts would watch Cheers, but I never could understand that. The humor was too subtle. I watched I Dream of Jeannie, but even that I couldn't understand very well.
Oleynik: That show wasn't good for girls at all. [She goes into an imitation of Jeannie] "Oh, master, I'm so sorry." Dude, have some pride!
TVG: Do you see your own show as having positive role models for girls?
Oleynik: A lot of kids relate to Alex Mack because she's just a normal girl. She has her own style. She's not a follower. A lot of my fan letters say, "I don't have any friends and no one at my school likes me, but watching Alex Mack makes me feel better because you're kind of different, too." I think it's because I don't really fit in, and I'm also very nice to other people on the show who are maybe kind of nerdy. We want girls to watch her and say, "Oh, I can have my own style and I'll still look cool. I don't have to look like everyone else."
Ng: It would have been so cool to have Alex Mack in my school. She's not the kind who'll make fun of people just because everybody else is doing it.
TVG: What about Shelby? She sets a role model to be smart, right?
Ng: Sometimes I wonder about that. She's certainly not the most stellar student. I'd say she's smart in her field of private investigation, but not book smart. Still, I do think in terms of being a role model. I know a lot of actors say, "Well, I didn't ask to be a role model." But if you can, why wouldn't you do it?
TVG: So what do you think sets a bad example for girls on TV?
Ng: When they portray girls as only interested in dressing well, going to hip parties, and driving cool cars. It really bothers me because it's so superficial, and it's so tempting for kids who watch these shows to want to be like that.
Oleynik: I think you have to give credit to the girls who are watching that they are smart enough to know it's not real. Most girls have their own ideas. But something like Baywatch...
Ng: That's exactly what I had in mind.
Oleynik: I watch that show, and I think, "Those people look fake; I'm not going to look like that." But I remember when I was 12, I was really easily influenced by things I saw. And I would think, "Oh, if only I could look like that, then my life would be perfect." But that's not healthy.
Ng: If only they could make an effort to let people know that happiness comes from within -- that it doesn't matter if you're not beautiful or don't have great clothes.
TVG: Larisa, what are your thoughts about college?
Oleynik: We were just talking about that, how easy it is when you're an actor to say, "Oh, I don't need to go to college." But I feel very strongly about going to college, just for the experience, you know?
Ng: It's funny. When I started my first year at Harvard and the show came out, some people would ask me, "Why are you in college?" and I'd say, "Why not? It's infinitely more important to me than my acting career."
TVG: So where do you want to go to college, Larisa?
Oleynik: I wish Stanford weren't so close to home. But I just want to have the whole college experience: Go away, live in a dorm, explore a new town. So I am kind of looking at Georgetown [in Washington, D.C.].
TVG: What are some of the advantages of being on TV?
Oleynik: I did get to meet Claire Danes at a small, private screening of "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet." That was a definite advantage. I talked to her for a brief moment afterward, and she was very sweet. It was one of the best nights of my life. Also, I got to meet Al Gore through the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Just to have the opportunity to do something positive like Campaign for Kids is great because it's something I feel really strongly about, not smoking. When I see pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio and Drew Barrymore smoking, I think, "Well, they're so cool," and I have to catch myself, you know? So I think it's important to get that message out.
Ng: Being on the cover of TV Guide is pretty cool. And I did get to see [Secretary of State] Madeleine Albright once. But you know what was really cool? The summer before my junior year, I was a camp counselor. It was impossible to get those kids to listen to me. But after I became Shelby Woo, I ran into some of them, and it was a different story. All of them wanted attention from me all of a sudden. And they would listen to me!
TVG: You both seem very grounded. How do you manage to stay so normal when you lead such exciting lives?
Oleynik: I go to a regular school, and that is very, very important to me. I'm around kids who aren't in the acting industry. When you're around normal kids like that, it keeps you normal. It is kind of hard going back and forth between school and the set. I do have a tutor. But this year I got to go to the winter formal, I got to go to the prom; I got to do all the fun stuff. It's funny, we did this video yearbook this semester, and I got so much more excited when I saw myself on it then I do when I see myself on TV. I'm just so proud of being in school.
Ng: I feel like moving to this country was such a dramatic event in my life that it changed almost everything for me. So many things happened. I had a really hard time in school when I first got there because the kids would make fun of my accent and the way I dressed, because I had no fashion sense. It's hard to find something positive about that experience, but now that I'm older, I know what I learned from it was really helpful to me. It taught me how I should treat people and, even more importantly, how I shouldn't treat people. It taught me to be more sensitive, to be more considerate. Because I've been on the receiving end, and I know it's no fun. I know what it's like to be hurt. That's what has kept me normal.