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INTERVIEW: Actress Danielle Fishel
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Recently, I was lucky enough to get a chance to interview actress Danielle Fishel. While probably best remembered as Topanga from Boy Meets World, she has many new projects on the horizon, including the recently released horror film GameBox 1.0 and the recent comedies Dorm Daze and Dorm Daze 2. She couldn’t have been nicer, so I’ll just let you check out what she had to say here.
Landen Pelish: I guess I’ll start off with some of your more recent ventures. What drew you to Gamebox 1.0?
Danielle Fishel: I had just done a movie with David and Scott Hillenbrand, and I was a video game fan. So, the idea of playing princess in a video game was a pretty fun idea to me. And I definitely love working with those directors, so I thought it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
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LP: How was the experience working with those guys on the Dorm Daze movies?
DF: Doing the first Dorm Daze was a really a very fun experience. It was really something that I had never done before, working with such a huge group of young actors and doing such a farcical comedy, which was really fun to film. It was just nice to do something entirely different from Topanga.
LP: You mentioned that you were a gamer, what type of games did you grow up playing?
DF: Well, I grew up playing Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo, like a total fanatic. I was a fiend for that game. And again, the idea of playing a princess in a video game - I mean that was what the entire storyline of Mario brothers was – to rescue the princess. So that was all I could picture, was me in a big poofy pink dress.
LP: Are you a horror fan as well?
DF: Scary movies scare the crap out of me. I am a total screamer and jumper, and I’m not really a fan of that. But, the idea of filming something where you’re being chased and having to run and the whole mental aspect of trying to figure out whether or not I was a real person like the princess does in the game, that just seemed like an interesting challenge.
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LP: Were there challenges in shooting Gamebox 1.0 that might have been different from a straight up drama or something like that?
DF: I think the biggest challenge on this one was filming in front of the green screen. You know, not having any real inanimate objects to interact with made it a little difficult. It made you really rely on your fellow actors and your directors to kind of give you direction and let you know what’s going on around you so that you don’t look like an idiot the whole time.
LP: I took a make-up class in college, and sometimes the amount of make-up we had to put on for shooting green screen just looked absurd. Did you ever feel awkward with all that on your face?
DF: Oh my Gosh! Every moment I felt awkward with that. Especially when you are trying to make somebody look very angular, the way video game characters do. We had like brown stripes going down our cheeks going along our jaw, down our nose, down the forehead. Yeah, I certainly would not have gone anywhere outside of that stage with that make-up on. Not to mention that I had the enormous hairpiece – the long braided ponytail. That probably weighed about 5 pounds and was attached to the top of my head. I really wasn’t going too many places.
LP: I noticed you did some voice work on an animated project, The Chosen One. Can you tell me anything about that project, or the process of doing voice work?
DF: Voice work is awesome. I’ve done it since I was a kid, I used to do voice-overs for different commercials. I still do voice-overs. That movie was a really really long time ago, maybe like six years ago? And it’s just now coming out, I’m really looking forward to seeing it.
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LP: Now, I’m going to ask you a stock question that I’m sure you’ve heard a million times before, but…looking back on Boy Meets World, how did that whole experience affect you and your career?
DF: By far, it was one of the most positive things I’ve ever done in my life. As far as how it affected my career, it was the entire basis of where my career has started. It is the staple of my career up till this point. I hope to, in the future, have many other staples, but as of right now it is the biggest and most important to me. I would not have traded that experience for anything.
LP: Did it ever get on your nerves playing the same character for seven years?
DF: Towards the end of the seventh season, when we knew it was getting close to the end, and you start getting kind of antsy like you do when you’re about ready to graduate high school…that’s kind of what it felt like to me. You get that senioritis: “Oh my gosh, I want to be done!” You can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like to not have school full-time on top of a full-time job - that freedom of knowing I can do whatever I want now, certainly was appealing. In hindsight, I think I was probably a little too overzealous to get out there. Once you’re away from it for a long time you realize what a wonderful environment it was.
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LP: I noticed you were doing some work on Tyra Bank’s daytime show.
DF: I am a correspondent for her now. So I’m one of her little reporters. It’s been a wonderful experience, especially being able to not have to play a character with it. I can just be myself and express my opinions and pass along things – just personally, I really believe in being a role model. You’re given such an enormous amount of opportunity to really impact people’s lives in a positive way, when you have the platform of public speaking. And I just really admire her and her desire to spread good messages to so many people. I am very happy to be a part of that show.
LP: Also, I hear you are a spokesperson now, or becoming a spokesperson for Nutrisystem?
DF: Yeah. I am the new spokesperson for Nutrisystem. Last year I lost 25 pounds by using their program. On May 8th and 9th, I’m shooting my first bathing suit commercial in Miami. So, hopefully coming up sometime in June, that commercial will be going national so everyone will be able to see what I look like now.
LP: So, what’s next for you, do you have any other upcoming projects that you might want to let our readers know about?
DF: Right now, I’m just really focused on my Nutrisystem commercial, getting myself into the best shape I’ve ever been in. And then, I’m looking forward to coming back to the Tyra Banks show next year.
LP: Well, thanks a lot for taking the time to let me talk to you.
DF: Thanks so much, it was a pleasure talking to you.
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