| June 13, 2001 From www.13thstreet.com Getting “Lost� With Jennifer O’Dell |
Sexy and Real and Real Sexy
O'Dell - a 26-year-old California-born actress whose credits include the TV shows Profiler, Silk Stalkings, Beverly Hills 90210 and Renegade, as well as such films as Point Doom and
Sometimes They Come Back III -- strives to make Veronica as real as she is sexy. "It took a while to find that balance," she notes. "It was a hard role to get. They looked at a lot of
people and they didn't want an American because it was an international production that was being shot in Australia. Then, just in general, being a blonde, looking like I do, it's
very hard to get people to take me seriously. I'm not trying to be arrogant, but I can see what I've got in the mirror and I work very hard at it.
"It's difficult to be taken seriously because you walk into a room and they don't expect you to act as well as you can. I'm not naturally a blonde. I've got really dark hair, but I can
get away with it. Some magazine said I was taking the blonde bimbo stereotype and turning it into a serious, strong, confident woman type role, and I liked that.
"As I said, I don't have a problem with being a beautiful woman," she adds. "I have a problem with being a beautiful woman and not being taken seriously and having to prove
myself every time."
Sexy and Serious and Seriously Sexy
Fortunately, O'Dell reports, the show - which counts John Landis, the director of An American Werewolf in London and The Blues Brothers, among its executive producers -
takes Veronica seriously.
"She's growing up and it has to do with the people who are in her life now," the actress says. "She's done so much and there's still so much to do. She's tough and she's strong
and she's smart. I was in bed last night thinking of all the different episodes I could create. I'd really love to start writing some of the episodes.
"You can really do everything and anything on The Lost World. There are no boundaries. It's this fantasy world, so nothing is too strange. We had a lot of fun last year doing an
episode ("Stone Cold") where these spirits inhabited us and we became other characters. That was fun for us, to play characters so different from what we're used to doing. I
was thinking about a dream sequence show where we were somehow transported to the Roaring 20's in the Americas. It'd be a Fabulous Baker Boys kind of an episode. And I'd be
on the piano, singing."
The Lost World... Of Men
It remains to be seen if The Lost World returns for a third season. The ratings are fine, but a Canada production partner fell through, leaving the show's makers on the hunt for
an American backer. In the meantime, O'Dell is auditioning, working out, attending charity events and, for the benefit of 13th Street, contemplating the kind of man she's on the
hunt for.
"I like a guy who has his own wants and drives in life, like I do," O'Dell says. "It's not attractive to me when a guy is so flabbergasted over me. I appreciate that immensely when I'm
dating someone and they're very attracted to me, but the guy has to have his own sexiness and manliness and sense of self. I could date any guy, a regular guy or a stud, if he
was comfortable with himself."
O'Dell pauses.
"Self-confidence is a big thing," she adds. "But he can't be overbearing."
O'Dell - a 26-year-old California-born actress whose credits include the TV shows Profiler, Silk Stalkings, Beverly Hills 90210 and Renegade, as well as such films as Point Doom and
Sometimes They Come Back III -- strives to make Veronica as real as she is sexy. "It took a while to find that balance," she notes. "It was a hard role to get. They looked at a lot of
people and they didn't want an American because it was an international production that was being shot in Australia. Then, just in general, being a blonde, looking like I do, it's
very hard to get people to take me seriously. I'm not trying to be arrogant, but I can see what I've got in the mirror and I work very hard at it.
"It's difficult to be taken seriously because you walk into a room and they don't expect you to act as well as you can. I'm not naturally a blonde. I've got really dark hair, but I can
get away with it. Some magazine said I was taking the blonde bimbo stereotype and turning it into a serious, strong, confident woman type role, and I liked that.
"As I said, I don't have a problem with being a beautiful woman," she adds. "I have a problem with being a beautiful woman and not being taken seriously and having to prove
myself every time."
Sexy and Serious and Seriously Sexy
Fortunately, O'Dell reports, the show - which counts John Landis, the director of An American Werewolf in London and The Blues Brothers, among its executive producers -
takes Veronica seriously.
"She's growing up and it has to do with the people who are in her life now," the actress says. "She's done so much and there's still so much to do. She's tough and she's strong
and she's smart. I was in bed last night thinking of all the different episodes I could create. I'd really love to start writing some of the episodes.
"You can really do everything and anything on The Lost World. There are no boundaries. It's this fantasy world, so nothing is too strange. We had a lot of fun last year doing an
episode ("Stone Cold") where these spirits inhabited us and we became other characters. That was fun for us, to play characters so different from what we're used to doing. I
was thinking about a dream sequence show where we were somehow transported to the Roaring 20's in the Americas. It'd be a Fabulous Baker Boys kind of an episode. And I'd be
on the piano, singing."
The Lost World... Of Men
It remains to be seen if The Lost World returns for a third season. The ratings are fine, but a Canada production partner fell through, leaving the show's makers on the hunt for
an American backer. In the meantime, O'Dell is auditioning, working out, attending charity events and, for the benefit of 13th Street, contemplating the kind of man she's on the
hunt for.
"I like a guy who has his own wants and drives in life, like I do," O'Dell says. "It's not attractive to me when a guy is so flabbergasted over me. I appreciate that immensely when I'm
dating someone and they're very attracted to me, but the guy has to have his own sexiness and manliness and sense of self. I could date any guy, a regular guy or a stud, if he
was comfortable with himself."
O'Dell pauses.
"Self-confidence is a big thing," she adds. "But he can't be overbearing."
Dinosaurs and Bucksin Loincloths
Jennifer O'Dell knew exactly what she was getting into when she signed on for the syndicated action-fantasy series Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. "They needed some spice on the show," says the stunning actress, who plays
Veronica, the jungle lass who befriends the members of a lost scientific expedition - Peter (The Ray Bradbury Theater)
McCauley as Professor Challenger, Rachel (Max Knight: Ultra-Spy) Blakely as Marguerite, David (TV's Friday the 13th) Orth as
Malone and Will (Dead End, an Australian thriller) Snow as Roxton -- and helps them navigate a mysterious universe of
rampaging dinosaurs, supernatural creatures and strange civilizations. For two full seasons now, Veronica has done her bit,
all the while clad in little more than a buckskin loincloth (which O'Dell helped redesign). "They needed some eye-candy,"
she adds. "I was perfectly fine with that. If I didn't go after the role some other girl would have."
Jennifer O'Dell knew exactly what she was getting into when she signed on for the syndicated action-fantasy series Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. "They needed some spice on the show," says the stunning actress, who plays
Veronica, the jungle lass who befriends the members of a lost scientific expedition - Peter (The Ray Bradbury Theater)
McCauley as Professor Challenger, Rachel (Max Knight: Ultra-Spy) Blakely as Marguerite, David (TV's Friday the 13th) Orth as
Malone and Will (Dead End, an Australian thriller) Snow as Roxton -- and helps them navigate a mysterious universe of
rampaging dinosaurs, supernatural creatures and strange civilizations. For two full seasons now, Veronica has done her bit,
all the while clad in little more than a buckskin loincloth (which O'Dell helped redesign). "They needed some eye-candy,"
she adds. "I was perfectly fine with that. If I didn't go after the role some other girl would have."