Joey Lawrence began his career in the '80s as a child star in commercials and then landed a role on Nell Carter’s Gimme a Break!. His popularity skyrocketed in the 90’s when he played “Whoa!” Joey Russo on the hit NBC series Blossom. Since then, he has starred in films and TV shows. Not just an actor, Lawrence also proved himself to be a talented singer and dancer. After placing third on Dancing with the Stars, he did a stint on Broadway as Billy Flynn in Chicago. Already with two albums under his belt, he is set to release a dance CD within the next couple of months. He currently stars alongside Melissa Joan Hart in the ABC Family series Melissa & Joey. TheCelebrityCafe.com’s Michelle Vaccaro sat down with the former teen heartthrob at the Pamper’s 50th Birthday event and spoke about his role as a dad, actor, and singer.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: What advice would you give to new parents?
Joey Lawrence: You know, it’s the most amazing thing you’ll ever do. It’s challenging, but incredibly rewarding. My goal is to be a better dad tomorrow than I am today and that’s all you can do. You just get better every single day.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Has your decision on what projects you take or what roles changed since you became a father?
Joey Lawrence: You know, not really. Sometimes you pick and choose. Sometimes it’s about characters. It’s not going to change the way I…because my career is not…My job in terms of my career is providing for my family. If the opportunity presents itself to make a movie that my children can see, then great, but the primary goal is the reward of my job which is the finances which then I in turn I take care of my family. So it doesn’t necessarily dictate the projects but…it certainly motivates me to work hard so I can give them everything that they could possibly need.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: I have to say, the first thing I noticed when I saw you today is that you have hair again.
Joey Lawrence: I grew hair a little bit, a little bit.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Are you going to keep it?
Joey Lawrence: Yeah, I grew it out a little bit. Everyone started to think I was like bald, clearly. So I was like ‘Alright, I’m going to grow it out a little bit.’ It’s not as thick as it used to be, but it’s not bald.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Do you still see anybody from Blossom or do you still talk to them?
Joey Lawrence: Not really. We did a DVD thing about a year and a half ago because the first season came out on DVD. I did some commentary. I saw Mayim [Bialik] and Jenna [von Oÿ]. Ted Wass and I…who played the dad on the show…we’ve remained close. I hired him to direct the pilot of my show and he’s come back and directed seven more of the first thirty. He’s going to direct some more of the future episodes we film too.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: How do you think the industry has changed…because you started out as a kid. How do you think it has changed over the years?
Joey Lawrence: Well, I think they reward bad behavior. You know, so many times they make stars…or give these kids an incredible platform for nothing. You’re famous to be famous. Back in my day, you actually had to do something, you know? And it wasn’t about fame, it was about just doing great work. It was about working, you know? If it happened, it happened. If it didn’t, it didn’t. Today it’s about…the goal is to be famous anyway possible…you know…sex tape, drugs in a club, whatever it is… It’s sad, really, kind of pathetic, but that’s kind of where we are. I have a lot of hope for the generation below them…because all it takes is just one generation to turn it around.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Now if your daughters wanted to be actors, how would you feel about that?
Joey Lawrence: I’m not going to prevent them from doing it. If my mom had prevented me from doing it, I wouldn’t be here today. But if that’s their calling, that’s their calling. We’ll wait and see…
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Tell me a little bit about the new season of Melissa & Joey and congratulations on the success of it.
Joey Lawrence: Thank you. Yeah, it’s been great, man. It’s fun. We’ve got a lot of great episodes coming up. It’s that give and take. You know, we play at the romance, but we don’t touch on it too hard. We’re filming our season ending cliff hanger right now which I can’t disclose to you…but it’s pretty cool. It’s always the state of ‘Is Joe going to stay?’ Because it’s not what he does. He sort of fell into this. He was worth millions of dollars, lost everything, couldn‘t trade for five years so he took this job. It was the only thing that he could do. But you know…is there a romance? Will he leave? Will he stay? And then we have this thing that happens at the end of the season…and sort of leaves everyone going, ‘What’s going to happen?’ It’s pretty cool.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: You have a new album coming out?
Joey Lawrence: A brand new record.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: When is that coming out?
Joey Lawrence: Most likely June. Because the show comes back on June 29. We anchor a new night of comedy. The first time ABC Family has ever done that because they’ve never had a successful comedy. We’re the first ones. They’re going to punch up the night with two new shows. We’re going to anchor the night and the record is going to come out the same month.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: What can you tell me about the record?
Joey Lawrence: I did it with Matthew Gerrard. He’s done number one hits with Jesse McCartney and Kelly Clarkson, I mean everybody. It’s a pop record…a pop, dance record…a real feel good positive…I just want to get people to get up and dance and have fun. Yeah, there’s no reference to humps and doing it and all that crap, you know what I mean? It’s just a good, feel good record that hopefully people will be able to listen to over and over. It’s cool.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Are you going to do any Broadway again?
Joey Lawrence: Maybe. Chicago was a lot of fun. I had a great time doing that. We had sold out houses every night so it was fun. If it makes sense…that made sense. They’re always talking about stuff so I just got to feel like it makes sense.