At only 20-years-old, Amber Stevens has already accomplished what many her age only dream of. With a number of guest appearances on network television shows like CSI under her belt and being featured in the movie Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Amber most recently landed a role as Ashleigh on ABC Family’s Greek. Amber was kind enough to take some time out of her hectic schedule to sit down with BuddyTV to talk about Greek, her character, and what she’s hoping to accomplish as an actress and entertainer in the coming years.

Read the full interview transcript and listen to the mp3 audio below.

This is Royce from Buddy TV, and I’m here with Amber Stevens who plays Ashleigh on Greek. How’s it going, Amber?

Great, thank you!

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us!

Well, thanks for wanting to talk to me.

Definitely not a problem. So Amber, maybe we can just start off by… maybe you can give us a little bit of background about yourself, and how you eventually broke into Hollywood as an actress?

Oh, wow. Well, my parents always say that I came out of the womb dancing and performing. I always was someone who liked to put on shows and stuff, and as a kid I would set up shows during our holidays, and I’d make all my cousins be part of it. I would direct, produce and star. We would dance and sing, and do gymnastics and fashion shows, and silly stuff like that. So I kind of just always loved performing. I started playing piano when I was young and started in music that way, and then as soon as I graduated high school I decided that I wanted to really get into acting. And so I found a manager and got an agent, you know, like what everyone else has to do. And eventually I started going on auditions, and then Greek came along my way, and here I am! (Laughs)

That’s awesome! What was that transition like for you, going from singing into acting? Was it something that was pretty easy for you to do?

No, I mean, singing’s always been something that I’ve wanted to pursue and it still is. But acting wasn’t something I was 100% sure I could do and I was capable of. Growing up, my dad was an actor, and so I was around it a lot. He was on a sitcom for a while, and so I would go to the stage. I auditioned for his show once when I was like, nine, and just like little things and I never was sure I could do it, but when I met the man who’s my manager now, Robert Enriquez, he really convinced me that I was good enough. So it was hard in the beginning, I had to like, go to acting classes and then I realized, I got really comfortable with it and just started to love it.

So how did you land your role as Ashleigh on the show?

I landed the role of Ashleigh just like any other actor. There were a whole bunch of people reading for all the roles, and I just got the audition one day, it was given to me, it wasn’t very many pages in the beginning. I read for them and they thought it was funny, and so I was brought back and you meet the producers and the director. And they kept bringing me back and that’s when I met with the network, ABC Family, and they thought I was the funniest. They created an extra pair of sides that I had to read which were more dramatic, so I had to read a funny one and a dramatic one in my audition, and I guess they thought I did a good job.

What were your initial thoughts about the show and your role in particular?

Oh, immediately even before reading the script, just by reading the sides and the character description and everything, I knew the show would be perfect for me, that it would be so much fun. I thought it was a fantastic idea cuz there’s no other show that I’ve ever seen or even heard of that focuses on the Greek system in college, and it seems like such an obvious choice. I mean, that’s what so many people look forward to, at least in America, when they go to college is joining their fraternity or sorority. I thought that would be so much fun to do, cuz I never really got to go to a university cuz I’m still only 20, and never got to finish college or anything. So I get to do my college experience on TV.

Yeah, that’s very cool.

Yeah, so I was really excited about it, thought the show would be great even if I wasn’t a part of it. I was excited to find out where it would go.

Can you tell us a little bit about your character Ashleigh?

Yeah, Ashleigh, she’s a cool girl. She’s a really good friend, she’s very loyal to the people around her, but she’s a lot of fun. She’s the social chair of the sorority, so she sets up all the parties, and she loves to go out and dance on tables and drink and have fun and meet new people. She’s just, she’s a character, she’s a lot of fun. She lives in the house with Casey, in the sorority house, and they’re best friends since freshman year. Whenever Casey gets into some drama, Ashleigh is always there to back her up, and she’s just like a really good friend to Casey, and that’s basically her role. As the season goes on, you’ll start to see Ashleigh gets into a lot, she gets into her own problems, kind of cool and funny stuff.

So she’s definitely the party girl.

Oh yeah, she’s the party girl, she knows all the gossip, she’s always aware of what’s going on around her.

Are you anything like your character Ashleigh?

I would say I’m kind of like her, I enjoy going out and meeting people, but I’m not really a party girl. I would rather spend time with a bunch of friends at someone’s house and have game night, and you know, just play Pictionary or something. I’m not as big of a party girl as Ashleigh. But I’d say, you know, some of my characteristics are like her, I’d like to think that I’m a loyal friend as well.

What’s it like filming for the show? You mentioned that it’s been a lot of fun for you. Maybe you can give the fans an idea as to what goes on behind the scenes, and how the dynamics are with the other actors and actresses on the show?

(Laughs) Well, the schedule is crazy. We work usually five days a week, and it can be up to like 14-hour days, but it switches all the time. So sometimes I’m there with Spencer, and I’m there with all the girls, cuz we have all our scenes with all the girls. Then some days, we have days where we’re shooting parties or something, so like the whole cast is there. It’s always so fun no matter who you’re with, because we’re all like best friends already, instantly since the pilot. We’ve all kept in touch during time and between shooting, and we hang out on the weekends, and it’s just a blast. It’s like, I feel like I go to camp everyday, it’s not work. You know, I show up on time, and I have to pretend all day and hang out with my friends, and it’s a blast. It’s very cool, and everyone’s so different. All our personalities are so different, and you never know who you’re going to be hanging out with that day, shooting something. So every day’s different, and we’re all even friends with like all the crew is friends, we’re friends with the producers, we hang out with the writer, we hang out with the makeup crew, and we’re just a big family.

Can you talk a little bit more about what’s in store for Ashleigh in upcoming episodes? You know, you mentioned that she’s going to get into a little bit of trouble. Is there anything that you can, you know, drop for the fans…

Ooh…I don’t know how detailed I can get. I’d say that she has a boyfriend who lives far away and she’s in a long-distance relationship, and some sort of drama goes down with her boyfriend and a few of the other characters in the show. You’ll start to see some development of who Ashleigh can become when she talks about her boyfriend, or she’s with him, or when she’s without him. I don’t know if I can get any more detailed than that, but if you watch next week, next Monday, you’ll start to see something. (Laughs)

Aside from your role as Ashleigh on Greek you’ve had some guest appearances on a few of the network television shows, like CSI. You were also featured in Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. How was the experience shooting that movie?

That was really cool, actually, I met one of my best friends during that movie. We shot for about… I’m not in very much of the movie, to be honest. I’m in the very beginning a few times, but we shot for about all of two weeks for the part I was in. We were out in San Pedro, and then Victorville, so the scenes that I’m in, I didn’t get to go to Tokyo or anything cool like that. But it was really, really fun, and the other actors were really cool, and I’ve kept in touch with quite a few of them. That was the really fun part, I mean, I got to do my own stunts which were not that dramatic at all. I had to like, stand up in the back of the bed of the truck and then we had to like, drive around a bunch of times and I dunno, it was fun.

You know, obviously, you’re still very young in your career. But given your experience so far with both film and television, what medium do you prefer? Do you prefer one over the other?

Oh, I don’t know. I really would like to do both in my career, I think they’re so different and I’d like to get more experienced in both. But one of my favorite things is performing live, and so in my career I’d also really like to do sitcoms, even if it’s just to guest-star role or something, cuz just the live audience thing is so cool. So that’s one thing I’d love to do. And then also, one of my dream roles in my lifetime, that I will do because it’s definitely on my checklist of things to do before I die, is to play Mimi in a Broadway like 8-week run in New York. And that is like, I have to do it. (Laughs) So I’m interested in all mediums…

Well Amber, do you have any other projects in the works right now that you’d like your fans to be aware of?

Well, I’ve also do some modeling, that’s actually how I got started. When I was 13 I started modeling and it turned into commercials, which turned into TV, you know. But I still do some of that, and I am now the face of a juniors clothing company called Soulmates, which sells at like Dillards and Macys and so you’ll see ads for that. And just for like, fun stuff like that is going to be coming out. But other than that, every single day is booked with Greek, so hopefully when it slows down in a few weeks, we’ll see if I can throw myself into anything else.

Alright, well, do you have any final words for your fans out there?

Just that I hope that they keep watching the show, and really get into the characters. There’s a lot more that happens with every single one of us, and it’s gonna be really funny and dramatic. (Laughs)

Well, thanks again Amber for your time, and you know from all of us at Buddy TV, good luck to you. We’re excited to continue watching you on Greek, and also to see how your career unfolds.

Well thank you so much, it’s been a lot of fun!

(Interview conducted by Royce Yuen)