INTERVIEW ERIN WALSH
PHOTO CHRISTIAN HOGSTEDT
Meet Raegan Revord. The saavy young star of YOUNG SHELDON on listening, growing with grace, what makes her hopeful about her generation. Read on for more…
Erin Walsh Hello darling Raegan!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us and join our SBJCT collective- I believe you might be our youngest member yet! I would love to start at the beginning- were you just born a performer? How old were you when you started and what was the impetus?
Raegan Revord Thank you so much for having me!! The youngest one?? What an honor!!
Since I can remember, I’ve always loved performing. I would get dressed up and act out movies or shows that I loved. I’d perform daily concerts at my house standing on top of a table in heels and jewelry. At one point I was writing these scripts and assigning roles to my friends and parents. I’d always want my parents to video me and you can hear me at the end of all of them say “I wanna see the video”. I’ve always loved entertaining and making people laugh. I was pretty young when I started, I think like 4 or 5. I started out doing print campaigns and then commercials. I worked on a lot of commercial, and when I started seeing myself on TV, I asked my parents how to be on TV shows and movies. That’s when my parents knew it wasn’t just a hobby anymore and that it was getting more serious. They got me a manager that started submitted me for theatrical jobs and at 6 is when I booked Modern Family. Once I booked that I knew it’s what I wanted to do.
EW What surprised you about starting as a professional actor?
RR I started so young and I didn’t have any training so I was learning everything on the spot. Learning about continuity, making sure my hair and my positions were the exact same every time. I had to learn about all the different departments and how to work as a team. In our show we have a lot of dinner scenes and as a 9 year old you don’t realize that if you accidentally hit your fork on the plate how that affects the sound department. Being on this show has been one big classroom for me. I’m still learning!
EW Tell us about your process. What are some of the tools that you use to step into a character?
RR I always try to find a way to relate to the character and have a little piece of me in there to bring my point of view to the character. Once you are in wardrobe, you have the hair, and are in the moment on set it just happens naturally. Having a really good scene partner helps too.
EW Let’s talk Young Sheldon! Can you tell us a bit about your role and for the uninitiated, what we can expect from the show?
RR I play Missy Cooper on the show, Sheldon’s twin sister. She’s not as book smart as Sheldon, but she is street smart and observant . She’s popular at school and makes friends easily, unlike Sheldon. I love playing Missy…she says what’s on her mind and has the best sense of humor. Every time I get our scripts I laugh out loud when I read Missy’s little sassy comments. She’s a very normal 12 year old and I think that’s why so many people relate to her. You can expect a lot of laughs and feel good moments from our show. Unlike the Big Bang theory, we are a single camera show so there’s no laugh track. And since it’s set in the 80’s/90’s there’s some nostalgia to it.
EW Any favorite stories from filming?
RR Oh my gosh! So many stories! One of my favorite things is how much we all love pranking and scaring each other. In season 1, Iain and I found this creepy 3 ft tall doll that we named DD (demon doll) in this hidden closet on our stage. We started hiding her all over to scare our cast and crew. Then we got the idea to put her in our directors’ dressing rooms. She’s motion activated and glows purple so when the director would come into the room she’d go off. It’s hilarious. The other day, we put her in the backseat of one of our producer’s cars. When he was leaving for the day, he turned around to back out of his parking spot and there she was!! Haha sorry Mr. Steve!!
EW What do you most hope people take from the show?
RR What I hope people take away from the show is acceptance. We don’t always have to agree on things or understand each other, but at the end of the day we should love people for who they are and accept them.
EW How does it work going to school and being a professional actor AT THE SAME TIME? Do you sometimes feel like you’re not a kid or that you might be missing out on some kid stuff?
RR Working and schooling at the same time is actually easier than it sounds. I can work 9 1/2 hours a day and 3 of that includes my school. Plus, I don’t have any homework. If I went to a regular school I think I’d go about 7 hours a day and I’d have homework. So really it’s about the same. I don’t feel like I’m missing out at all. My mom makes sure I have a balanced schedule. She always makes time for me to see my friends and have a normal life.
EW What has it been like for you working through the pandemic? Was there anything positive that came from this time? And what was the hardest part?
RR Honestly, working through the pandemic has been really stressful. Just the constant worry of getting someone sick or getting sick and making production shut down. But the hardest part has been the isolation. This is supposed to be a time in my life where I’m out with all of my friends and having some independence, but because of Covid I’ve kind of been confined to a small bubble of people. Thankfully, we have vaccines and boosters now, so things are starting to ease up and feel a little bit more normal. I will say one of the great things that came out of Covid is being at home with my dogs and just getting to relax with them and read a book. My dad started working from home too, so we were able to have more family time.
I really feel like my generation will be more tolerate, accepting, and inclusive of others. I’m seeing kids my age care more about our world and what’s going on in it like climate change or ways to reduce waste and recycling. It makes me very hopeful!
EW Congratulations on the 100th episode! What has been your favorite part of working on this series?
RR Thank you so much! In this streamer world we are living in, I realized this may never happen to me again. It makes this milestone that much greater. I started this show when I was 9 years old. I’ve really grown up on this show with this group of people and they have truly helped shape who I am. They’ve made it a wonderful, fun, and safe place for a kid to grow up. Everyone treats everyone with respect, so I’ve grown up with these great examples of how you treat people, how you treat your coworkers and your crew. That is something I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.
EW Tell me a bit about your own role as an artist. What do you consider your own responsibility to be as an individual with a platform?
RR I want to use my platform to inspire people and to spread positivity. So many people use social media to compare their lives to others so I try to present myself as real and relatable as possible.
EW When you have a platform at a young age, who guides you? Does social media become a collaboration until you are a bit older?
RR Right now it’s my mom. I feel like it is important for me to use my voice to support causes that I believe in, but it is also important for me to be a kid as long as possible. That means using social media to show support where I can but not reading all of the comments and messages.
EW What are some of your favorite ways to contribute, some of your favorite causes? We would love to direct our readers as to how they can be a part of the change YOU would like to see in the world…
RR PawWorks (or any animal rescue), LA Family Housing, Homes4Families, White Pony Express
EW What makes you very hopeful about your generation?
RR I really feel like my generation will be more tolerate, accepting, and inclusive of others. I’m seeing kids my age care more about our world and what’s going on in it like climate change or ways to reduce waste and recycling. It makes me very hopeful!
EW Favorite way to unwind?
RR Reading, writing, and hiking
EW Favorite place in the world?
RR Home ❤️
EW Current obsession in terms of film, TV, reading?
RR I don’t watch that much TV during the week because I don’t have a lot of time, but I’m currently making my way through Schitt’s Creek (I’m late to the party, I know). On the weekends, I have movie nights with my family, and my mom loves to show me the classics so we will watch anything from black and white movies to a 90’s romcom. My dad shows me Sci-Fi and action movies, so I feel like it’s a really great mix.
EW What do wish our readers to know about you that perhaps that may not have known?
RR Most people call me Rae or Rae Rae. Also, I’ve never eaten fast food and I don’t know how to blow a bubble with gum! Seriously, can someone teach me???
EW Raegan, What’s Your SBJCT? What really drives and moves and motivates you?
RR My eagerness to learn and grow and all the endless possibilities that the world has to offer.
