Jillian Rose Reed has amassed quite an impressive résumé for a young actress. Having already appeared in Weeds, The Middle, and Community, Jillian will now be featured in MTV’s Awkward, which debuts July 19 at 11 p.m. She was kind enough to chat with TheCelebrityCafe.com’s own Alec Campagna about her career, family, passions, and inspirations.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Can you discuss your upcoming MTV show Awkward?
Jillian Rose Reed: Awkward is a half hour scripted series for MTV. It basically takes a look at the incidents that happen in your formative years and how they really define you as a person. It centers around Jenna Hamilton. She’s a 15-year-old and she, like most 15-year-olds, doesn’t really fit in. She’s an outsider and she’s just trying to make herself known and come into herself and she has a little bit of an accident, which kind of gives her a not-so-good stigma. But for her, she decides to take it as a blessing, which really sends the message of the show, which is you can’t control the things that happen to you but you can control the way you feel about them.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Awkward involves a girl having a difficult time in high school. What was your high school experience like?
Jillian Rose Reed: I had a very different high school experience. I actually spent some time in regular high school and a lot of time in a charter high school, which I actually graduated early from. But during the time I did go to regular high school, I had a great experience. I was super-involved and like Jenna, I wasn’t the most popular girl in school, but I was really satisfied with my friends and all the stuff I was involved in.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: What MTV series did you watch growing up?
Jillian Rose Reed: I remember when I was growing up I would always be babysitting, and so whenever I would be babysitting during the day, I would always have MTV on in the background and I was always into TRL. It was a great show.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: You’ve been featured in both Weeds and Community. Are you a fan of both?
Jillian Rose Reed: I am actually. Unfortunately, right now I don’t have Showtime, so I haven’t seen any of the new season of Weeds, but I am definitely a fan. I am a huge fan of Mary Louise Parker, I think she’s great. And I am also a fan of Community. I love Joel McHale, I watch him on The Soup and I think both of the shows are excellent.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: What actors would you most like to work with?
Jillian Rose Reed: Right now I would really love to work with Sandra Bullock. I think she is amazingly talented and I would be so honored to get to do any role that involved working with her.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Your younger brother, Robbie Tucker, is also an actor. How has it been having a family member in the same business?
Jillian Rose Reed: It is amazing! He’s ten years old and he’s such a great supporter and I think we’re both really lucky that there’s no jealousy, there’s no fighting. We just both are really there for each other. Any time he books a role I always squeeze him and give him a hug and every time I book a role he’s always so excited for me. I think it’s really great to have an entire family that supports what you do, especially him because he knows exactly what it feels like.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Would you ever want to work with him?
Jillian Rose Reed: That would be a dream come true, I think for both of us. I think we’ve both been waiting for that perfect brother-sister script so that we can work together.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Who are your biggest inspirations?
Jillian Rose Reed: I would say that my biggest inspiration is definitely my mom and my grandma. They both have experience with acting and that’s how I got my love for it, through both of them. I always strive to make both of them happy and make them proud of me, which I’m pretty sure I’m doing. They’re wonderful wonderful women and they’re definitely my inspiration in my career and in my life.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: What has been their experience in acting?
Jillian Rose Reed: Lots of stage for my grandma. She was very involved in theatre in high school. My mom was also involved in some theatre. She was definitely involved in music in well. She was big into choir. And I’m also a singer so I get that from her a little bit, too.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: Can you tell us a little about your passion for singing?
Jillian Rose Reed: I grew up in musical theatre, so I’ve always had a love for singing. Right now, it’s not really my main focus; it’s more of a passion, more of a love, than what I really want to do as a career. But I’d love to down the line do some work. I have a lot of friends who are musicians and we’re always talking about getting in the studio and doing some songs together. So I’d absolutely love to experience that.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: With your job, you encounter many celebrities. Do you have any best friends in the business, or are most of your best friends from your hometown?
Jillian Rose Reed: Well, I have best friends in my hometown and best friends here. A lot of my friends are in the business in different areas. I have friends who are in casting, I have friends who are photographers, I have friends who are writers, and like I said, friends who are musicians. So I’m pretty much engulfed in this business in that way, and a lot of my friends are actors as well.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: What else will we be seeing you in?
Jillian Rose Reed: You can look for me sometime in the near future on an episode of Pair of Kings. It’s a show for Disney XD. I pay a girl named Tessa. She’s very very very smart and she kind of gets the other characters out of a sticky situation. So you can definitely look out for that.