By B&TF (November 7, 2010)

Since I became a reporter for l-word.com, the best thing that I had found while interviewing Laurel over the years is that she’s really honest and open with her answers. The interviews with Laurel are never boring or monotone. She turned them into conversations that made me feel welcomed and appreciated. In the past they were mostly about The L Word because the show was still on but lately it’s also about the art and life in general.

The last part of the interview is just a few seemingly disconnected questions about Laurel’s past, present and future.

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Laurel on life in general:

B&TF: You said before that New York is really close to your heart. Do you hope to move back there when your girls are older?

Credit to Miki Turner (from Adoption Today)

LH: No, I think my children like it in Los Angeles. I always pick the place that works best for my children.

B&TF: Where was the strangest place someone recognized you?

LH: It happens everywhere: island in the Caribbean, where there were only like twenty people. It happens so much I don’t even know. It always blows my mind, but I don’t think about it.

B&TF: What shows do you get recognized for the most?

LH: Angel and The L Word.

Credit to Showtime

B&TF: Out of all the shows and independent movies, which one would you say you had the most memorable experience with?

Watch “Lush” Trailer here

LH: I really enjoyed shooting the movie “Lush”, because I got to work with Laura Linney, and she’s one of my idols. The movie turned out quiet different than what it was when we shot it, but I’m really proud of that movie. I’m also proud of “The Rising Place” and of “Two Girls in Love”. Television is such a different medium from film and I’m definitely proud of the whole series of The L Word, but it’s a different feeling to stay in something that long. It’s different because years passed (laughing). When you do a movie you just do a movie and it’s done.

B&TF: In several of your tweets you talked about “showing ponies on the circuit” as a kid. How did you get involved with that?

LH: I started horseback riding at seven and then got my first horse at about ten. I had really supportive parents and I grew up in the South. I didn’t know a lot of people doing theater or anything like that. My dad grew up on a farm and grew up around people that are very salt-of-the-earth people, and being around horses was just a big plus. We were showing high jumpers. It was pretty classy. I thought I was going to be a veterinarian, I was into medicine, horses and biology. I was kind of earthy in that way.

Credit to Laurel Holloman

B&TF: What do you miss most about North Carolina?

LH: People. The way a southerner would invite you into their house really quickly, hand you an iced tea or a cocktail, and tell you their life story. They’d make you delicious meal. I just think there’s that “southern hospitality”. I’m so proud to be southern. There’s also this lust for life and they know how to slow down and enjoy a sunset or the beach. I grew up in the state that has the most beautiful mountain range and the most beautiful beaches. It’s a very outdoorsy place, very friendly. People are just really, really friendly. I miss that the most.

North Carolina beach

And I miss some of the simplicities of life. I grew going to my cousin’s farm and we had a river house, like a second house. I could spend whole afternoon trying to catch a crab – nothing else – just trying to catch a crab in a water, or waterskiing, or fishing. That’s where the painting comes in. It’s all really tied in to this simpler existence. I think you really have to grab on to something tangible and visceral that validates you not once a year or twice a year, but every day.

I Walk Alone (Courtesy of Laurel Holloman)

That’s why I think I’m more interested in painting, because I think of what I want to do every day. Something that doesn’t take 200 people to make, something that takes just your own time. I think that comes from my growing up in the south and thinking about how I want to spend my time every day. And that kind of simpleness about it, I guess.

B&TF: You are right because the life in New York and L.A. seems so different from North Carolina.

LH: I worry about that for my children because I think that I had a very charmed southern upbringing, and I worried that my daughters are exposed to so much of a busy city life, just a different pace, a different vibe. Even the language my six years old uses is so different.

B&TF: Was it hard for you to adjust to this life after growing up in the south?

LH: Because I also wanted it, I grew up wanting out. But now I think you just get out and you appreciate something. You reflect back and go, “What made me paint? That made me paint”.

B&TF: Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Courtesy of Laurel Holloman (“its me at 90 years old getting out of a lake. ha”)

LH: I don’t know. It’s always hard. It’s like the saying: “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” I have the overall goals and I am a pretty goal-oriented person, but I always feel like we kind of have to embrace our own a little bit. I don’t even know if I even think that way.

B&TF: Are you saying you live one day at a time or that you still plan some things?

LH: I don’t know. I see myself as a mother of teenage girls, I guess, because right now it’s pretty solid. I just want to be doing what I love and be surrounded by people that I love.

From Diva interview

The End