After portraying the lead role of Maddie Van Pelt, a popular cheerleader, fashionista and sassy witch in the Nickelodeon series Every Witch Way for four seasons, Paris Smith is saying her final good-bye to the show, which aired its final episode on July 2015, and is preparing for her next acting adventure!
Smith started her professional career with theater, having graced the stage in renditions of popular productions such as “Wizard of Oz,” “Hello Dolly,” “Sound of Music,” and “Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat.” At first she appeared on the small screen in a variety of commercials and moved on to film where she shared the silver screen with Chris Evans and Vanessa Shaw in the feature film Puncture. She made the move to Los Angeles in 2011, and soon after booked a guest-starring role on Modern Family where she played ‘Becca’ Luke’s (Nolan Gould) love interest, in addition to a recurring role on the Emmy award-winning YouTube series “Kids React.”
Smith won the 2013 Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Short Film – Young Actress 11-12 for her work in Scouted. She was also nominated for Best Performance in a TV Series – Guest Starring Young Actress 11-13 for her work in Modern Family.
In addition to acting, Smith writes and performs her own original music. She released her first three singles on iTunes: “Crush on Hollywood,” “He Says,” and “Game Over,” and has two additional songs on YouTube, “Swagger,” and “Tattoo You.” She continues to write and release music independently while balancing acting and school work.
CelebSecrets4U sat down with the actress/singer during her private meet and greet for kids from the Starlight Children’s Foundation at Planet Hollywood in New York City. The foundation partners with experts to improve the life and health of kids and families around the world; partnering with more than 600 hospitals, specialty clinics and camps, respite houses and hospices in the United States and Puerto Rico that collectively support more than 27 million pediatric visits every year.
In the interview, Smith dished about her first time at New York Fashion Week, what it was like filming the crossover with Talia in the Kitchen and what she learned from her experience on Every Witch Way. She even told us what souvenirs she took from the Every Witch Way set — make sure to read the Q&A below!
CS4U: You have been attending New York Fashion Week. How much fun has that been?
Paris Smith: “That was so much fun. I went there last weekend. This week has been crazy because I went to New York for a couple of days, then I flew back to LA for 2 days and then I just flew back last night so it’s been a really crazy but super fun week. I love fashion week. It’s my first time going, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but I loved it. I loved it. There were so many shows that I went to. I went to Sherri Hill, Jay Godfrey, Son Jung Wan, Nike. They were really great. I loved all of them and I loved the models. They’re so pretty!”
CS4U: We saw your pictures on Instagram. You looked gorgeous! Can you give our readers some fashion or beauty tips that you have?
Paris Smith: “With my hair, I kept it curled the whole time but I did different curls each time, so one time it was more like ringlets and another time more wavy and another time you know long and short so I kept it a little bit interesting with my hair. I always think play around with your hair. I love doing it so play around with that and maybe play around with lip colors. I think that’s a really cool idea maybe do red or pink or nude or purple. Whatever you feel like. Just play around with your look.”
CS4U: Every Witch Way has been nominated for Best International Program. What does that mean to you especially now that the show has ended?
Paris Smith: “It’s really crazy to me that there’s still nominations and that it’s still continuing internationally. I did some promos the other day for UK and it’s crazy to me that they still haven’t seen it, but I think that’s so cool and I love how it went international and I never really thought, when I first began the show, I never thought that it would come this far. I think it’s so great and I am so grateful for that. It’s really cool. I think it’s really really cool that different countries can see it. I was like (laughs)…this is a funny story. I was like I wonder, because I can’t speak Spanish, and I was like how’s it going to work when they air it internationally in Latin America and so I got to listen to it, the Spanish version of me, there was a person who dubbed my voiceover as me, but it was me saying the lines. It was so funny. I thought that was so funny (laughs). I was like oh my god how funny is that, I’m speaking Spanish, like I didn’t but the other person did, but I was like that is so cool. I think it’s amazing though.”
CS4U: What was it like filming the crossover for Talia in the Kitchen?
Paris Smith: “It was so much fun. I loved it. Those are actually, we filmed that episode in 3 or 4 days, and those were my favorite 3 or 4 days out of the whole season 4. I love that cast. They’re so nice and so talented and it was such a fun time filming with them because there was so much going on. There’s our cast which is massive and then there’s their cast which is massive and we were filming in a kitchen so there was food everywhere. We were eating all of the time. It was really really fun. I loved filming those episodes with them.”
CS4U: Did you take anything away any lessons from their set?
Paris Smith: “What I took from them is, because there’s a lot of food, there would be spillages and messy stuff happening, but they still kept a brave face through it and they still worked with it, you know, in the middle of the scene if something fell or if they got sauce all over them or whatever happened, they still kept a brave face through it and they still were able to keep doing their lines and not laugh and all that kind of stuff. Whatever happens in a scene just keep on going, you know (laughs).”
CS4U: What did you take away from entire experience on Every Witch Way?
Paris Smith: “Oh man, there’s a lot, but I think the main thing that I took away was working as a team because with our cast, there was so many of us that we all really had to work together and a lot of our scenes, especially this past season there was multiple people, a lot of people. There wasn’t just 4 people. There was like 6 or 7 people in a scene and it was really hard for the director to manage a lot of people and block everything but he did a fantabulous job. I really learned to work together as a team and that not only your component matters but everybody else’s does too to make it work as a team, so I really learned that. Like I said earlier, put on a brave face because with our show there’s a lot of messy stuff that happens, so you can’t laugh, you can’t laugh, you can’t laugh. That was always a thing (laughs), but I loved working. It was a great experience.”
CS4U: Did you take any souvenirs?
Paris Smith: I did! I took some stuff from Maddie’s room. I took, she had a couple little birds on her trunk so I took a couple of those. I took a couple of pictures and I think it’s so funny because I would always, every single season I would expect them to take new pictures to put in my room, but throughout all the seasons, they kept the same pictures from season one in my room and in my living room so when I was picking out what I wanted to take with me I was like oh my god these are still from season one and we’re in season four, this is crazy, but I took those with me. I took an M with me. She had like a big M in her room. I think that’s it, but I think the photos are the most memorable.”
CS4U: Will you be starring at all in the spinoff series W.I.T.s Academy?
Paris Smith: “I haven’t gotten anything on that yet but hopefully. I don’t know. You’ll have to check out my social media for all that kind of stuff.”
CS4U: You’ve partnered up with Starlight Children’s Foundation tonight. Can you tell us why you got involved with this charity?
Paris Smith: “I think it’s really really important to give back to the kids and, you know, I love being around kids and being with kids because Nickelodeon is a kids’ TV program, so, you know, and I’m doing Worldwide Day of Play so I’ll be around a ton of kids tomorrow, but I think it’s really important to give back to the kids and really feel for them. I really like getting their story. I really like hearing their stories and all that kind of stuff. I think it’s really interesting and really cool.”
CS4U: Can we expect any new projects? Anything you can tell us about right now?
Paris Smith: “I did do a guest star on another Nickelodeon show. I can’t say what it is yet, but it’ll be really fun and it was really really fun to film, so I did that, and like I said earlier, I’m here for Worldwide Day of Play, which I’m doing tomorrow, but it comes out September 26, so be sure to check that out.”
CS4U: Any new music?
Paris Smith: “I am working on my music. It’s been a little tricky with my schedule right now, but I am working on my music. I am working hard on that, so like I said check out my social media and stuff like that for new updates on everything, but I’m definitely working on my music and acting for sure.”
CS4U: Since we are CelebSecrets4U, can you maybe tell us a secret you haven’t already shared with us or maybe a secret from the last day on set?
Paris Smith: “Shout out to Katie Barberi. I love her. She plays my mom on the show. She taught me this ever since season one. With Maddie and Ursula, they always wear really bright lipstick, so she taught me, if you take your finger and put it in your mouth (purses lips around finger), after you get your lipstick on, you’ll have a circle of lipstick around your finger and that would like get on your teeth so it prevents the lipstick from getting on your teeth while filming because she said that’s happened to her, when she filmed Grachi, that happened to her and she smiled for like one of the scenes and there was lipstick all over her teeth and so she taught that to me and I’ve taken that with me to this day. I think it’s a really helpful tip. It would be very embarrassing if that happened but it helps so that’s a little makeup tip I can give away.”
Feature Image: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images
