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Kirrilee Berger Gives Us The Lowdown On Life On And Off Set

From Just Add Magic to The Who Was? Show, Kirrilee Berger is keeping busy! We caught up with the young actress to find out what life is like for her right now and spill the tea from her latest projects.

Keep reading to get the lowdown straight from Kirrilee!

Celeb Secrets: What is ‘The Who Was?’ Show and what can fans expect?

Kirrilee:‘The Who Was? Show’ is actually based on a book series called The Who Was? books by Penguin and it’s in several elementary schools throughout the country. Netflix picked it up as a television show, but they’re doing it in a really fun and crazy way. It’s actually a sketch comedy that involves tons and tons of characters and sketches and improvisations and music animation and a lot of really cool celebrities and guests. So expect the unexpected, honestly with this show cause it is super duper fun and crazy. You’ll be watching it and laughing and having fun watching your favorite celebs and not even realize you’re learning which I think is so great.”

CS: So how did you prepare for this role?

Kirrilee: “Yeah, so preparing for the audition process was very very different than anything else I’ve ever done because often with auditions you kind of just prepare the scene that you’re given and that’s it, that’s what you know you’re going to do in the room but with this one they would give you a crazy scenario and ask you on the spot to come up a super crazy character and improve – just go for it – off the top of your head! They also paired us up with different people and had us improve with them or they would have us do the scenes we were given with our wacky, crazy character that we came up with and they’d say come up with a totally new character – anything, anything. So really, it was a wonderful exercise as an actor to kind of be on your toes and it really kept your mind running and working so I’m really thankful for the improve training I have, but it was super fun and super crazy. It was such a great exercise, honestly.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXi5l2xh1If/?taken-by=kirrileeberger

CS: Where does the show film?

Kirrilee: “So we actually film the show in Brooklyn, New York. It’s so awesome because I grew up in Northern New Jersey so it was a really really easy transition for me because if I needed my parents they were like 45 minutes away.”

CS: What other projects are currently working on outside of this show?

Kirrilee: “I’m also working on an upcoming Nick Jr. show called Butterbean’s Cafe – it’s an animated show that focuses on ideals of friendship, healthy eating, farm-to-table philosophy, as well as working on if you really need a helping hand, it’s okay to ask for help. We’re humans, we’re not machines, we can’t always do everything on our own. If we just open our eyes and look around – there’s always a helping hand, which I think is really awesome. I’m also working on a Christmas movie right now and you can also catch me on “Just Add Magic” on Amazon Prime – season 1, season 2 and season 2B, which was just released.” 

CS: We just spoke to Olivia recently!

Kirrilee: “Oh, Liv! I love her so much! She is just the sweetest girl in the world, she is a total ray of sunshine. I’m so honored that I got to work with her and I know she’s so young and she’s so fresh, but it was amazing to work with her. She is such a special person, honestly.

We have become such a tight-knit family and I talk to the girls all the time – we hang out. There are just so wonderful and Aubrey Miller who plays my sister, we’re both actually only children so we feel like we were put on this show because we were supposed to be sisters in real life. She’s become my sister, you know? She really has and we go to each other for advice and we have sleepovers and we hang out all the time. The whole cast is such an amazing family and I think that’s what I love about working on television so much! You become a family with your cast when you’ve been working with them so long. There’s nothing else like it – it’s really amazing.”

CS: That’s so awesome! And I think you can definitely tell when you watch the show because you guys have so much chemistry on-screen.

Kirrilee: “Yeah! I was really nervous when I met Aubrey actually because we never did a chemistry read together or anything like that. It was just sort of get on set and you’re going to meet each other for 20 minutes and then you’re going to have to be sisters. I was so nervous, like oh man what if I don’t get along with her, what if we don’t click right away and the first thing I learned about Aubrey is that she loves musicals so instantly we had a musical theatre sing-a-long and then we’re best friends off the bat and it was amazing.”

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CS: What are some of your favorite musicals?

Kirrilee: “I love Hamilton, I love In The Heights, I love Sweeney Todd…I could go on for hours. I really could! I also recently saw Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 and that was amazing. I think musicals are just amazing!”

CS: What other things do you enjoy when you’re not focusing on acting?

Kirrilee: “I also love writing music – I’ve been writing original music since I was about 5. The first song I can remember writing was called The Man Within Me. I wrote it and sang it around my grandmother’s house. I’ve always had a bit of a knack for writing music, songs will come to me at like the weirdest places. Recently I had a song come to me when I washing my hands at a restaurant and I was like oh my gosh I just thought of a song, I have to go on my phone and write all the lyrics out quickly. But I also love all things Disney, I love going to Disneyland but if I have a bit of a long break in between work or something like that I am Australian-American so I love going back to Australia and spending time with my family. My family is my everything so if I have time to spend with them I’m going to back over there.”

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CS: Who are some of your career idols?

Kirrilee: “So I really love – as for acting – Meryl Streep, Dame Judi Dench and Toni Collette. And the thing I love about all three of them is how I feel like when you’re watching a film starring any of them, you forget you’re watching them. They’re just able to completely morph themselves into this character – it’s the point where the film ends and you’re like oh my gosh that was Meryl Streep! That’s what makes them so spectacular and so successful and so inspiring to them lose themselves and transform entirely into this character.

Musically – I’m obsessed with Shoshana Bean – so was actually Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway and has a ton of original music. Her record Spectrum just came out and I’m so inspired by the fact that she’s able to be so successful in so many different genres. She has a pop record, she has an R&B record, she just released a jazz record and I think it is so incredible how she’s able to express herself in so many different genres. She’s so successful in because it’s truthful and honest and raw and I think that’s so amazing!

In dance, I’m obsessed with Donna McCarthy. I just really am just cause! From Promises, Promises to Company and A Chorus Line – she’s so free and she just loses herself in the music when dances and I think that’s so spectacular and amazing.”

CS: Do you have any secrets from ‘The Who Was? Show’?

Kirrilee: “So many of the characters I play on the show – I play over 40 of them. It’s crazy , um we found them in our 2 week rehearsal process. However, one character we only found 5 minutes before we started shooting it. So I would love for everybody to guess when they watch the show who that one was… and it was a big one!”

The Who Was? Show is streaming RIGHT NOW on Netflix! Let us know if you’re watching down below.

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