When Nebraska native
Lindsey Shaw first burst into the movie scene three years ago, she played the athletic, girl next door best friend of the titular character on Nickelodeon's
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. Three years later, the 18-year old beauty has a new comedy series where she portrays the resident hottie, Claire, on
Aliens in America, which premieres on The CW October 1.
The actress, who played Jennifer Ann “Moze” Mosely for three seasons on the TEENick family comedy, recently spoke about the rather radical change from her previous character to her latest onscreen alter ego.
"The transition was pretty intense," Shaw admitted. "I mean, Moze isn't exactly a sexpot and Claire is obviously coming into that more, coming into her body, figuring all of that kind of stuff out. She's still really naïve about all of the attention she gets from it, so that is the one major difference between them. Besides that, they seem kind of alike. Claire seems like she is pretty athletic and Moze is athletic and all of that kind of thing. They have a lot of similarities but that big difference is that they are just not on the same page with boys and that kind of thing."
Besides comparing her past and present roles, Shaw also likened her experiences growing up in and coming from a small locale to the issues that are tackled on
Aliens in America. The upcoming series on The CW tells the story of an unpopular high school youth who finds an uncanny ally in an equally out of place and outcast Pakistani exchange student.
"That is the reality because I'm from Wisconsin and my father is from Chippewa Falls which is a small town near the fictional Medora [Wisconsin, where
Aliens in America is set],” the actress reflected. “I wanted to play this role so desperately because I felt this was my tribe. I grew up with, not everyone certainly, but a few people who did represent this type of bigotry that is maybe being felt here. I really wanted to express that small-mindedness."
Shaw knows exactly where the heart of her new show is coming from, having undergone a similar alienation and transplantation during the early part of her career, when she constantly had to migrate to the big cities from small hometown.
"I was completely blown away,” Shaw confessed. “In Nebraska, you have a two lane highway and that's what you get to everything on - the grocery store, school, church, whatever. I came out to California; I went to New York; I went to Dallas. You have mass transit. There are freeways and different ethnicities and everything was just a culture shock, moving from Nebraska. I was in such a sheltered spot and it really opened me up to new experiences, new people and everything."
-Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: CanMag
(Image Courtesy of The CW)