Having appeared in YA TV favorites Degrassi, ANT Farm, and now Finding Carter as ‘bad’ girl Bird, Vanessa Morgan has become a face to watch in the crowd of Young Adult actors and actresses coming into their own. Her spunkiness and zest for life shines through everything she does. We spoke to Vanessa about her experience on Carter, her character’s sense of right and wrong, and what the deal was with that amazing (and creepy!) painting Bird did of Carter. This is what she had to say.
“I really liked the script to begin with,” she says of her initial audition process for Finding Carter, which went so smoothly that she got the part after just one meeting. About Bird, Vanessa says “I like her style. She’s kinda like a free spirit.” And what about Bird’s tendency to act out? “Her parents aren’t around much,” Vanessa explains. “It makes her seek out attention more than she should.”
One of the ways that plays out is Bird’s brush with kleptomania in a recent episode. In trying to understand her character’s motives, Vanessa speculates that Bird “wanted to get her parents more mad at her…but she knew she messed up right away.”
As with most characters, it’s difficult to explain Bird away in just one sentence. “In episode 4, you got to see a deeper side of Bird…with the painting, she briefly talked about the moment she got raped.” Clearly, there’s a lot more to this girl, as evidenced by the artistry and pain within that piece of art. Vanessa looks forward to exploring this side more, along with more on “what happened to her in the past.”
On set, Vanessa enjoys herself: “All of us have a great rapport! I mostly hang out with Anna [Jacoby-Heron], she plays Taylor – I have a lot of fun with her.”
As for the best advice Vanessa has ever received as an actor, she had two excellent points to share with us. “Never second guess yourself,” she says. “That’s definitely good advice.” Additionally, she mentions the valuable point of “being comfortable in the uncomfortable. As soon as you feel uncomfortable, you start to feel yourself acting. You can’t be watching yourself in the scene.”
Aside from Finding Carter and her other acting pursuits, Vanessa is a singer as well. “I’m currently working on a single, trying to get it mastered and get a final product I’m happy with, and from there we’ll move on to shooting a video!” she tells us. “I’m really excited!”
We wish Vanessa the best of luck on that, her role on Finding Carter, and any and all of her next upcoming projects!
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