Amanda is featured in the new Life Story, probably the one about Zac Efron since they ask about him.
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Amanda Bynes, 21
How you know her:
Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show (1999-02) and WB sitcom What I Like About You (2002-06). Films include Big Fat Liar (2002), She's the Man (2006).
Hairspray role:
Penny Pingleton, Tracy's sheltered, lollipop-licking best pal who's not afraid to defy racial barriers for true love.
How she describes Penny:
"Usually, I'm the confident, go-getter Tracy girl. To sit back and react to a scene and then become a woman at the end was a lot of fun."
How she handled all those lollipops:
"It was good for me, but bad for my dad, who is a retired dentist. The day my parents came to the set, I went through about 40 or 50. My dad asked, 'You're not actually eating them, are you?' I told him it's all part of the job."
How she liked her '60s outfits:
"I wore one shirt that was vintage. When I started sweating, it smelled like the '60s."
Worst bad-hair experience:
"When I was 15, I got a haircut from a famous hairstylist in L.A. She gave me a short shag. I'm a Jewish girl with curly hair. When it dried naturally, it was atrocious."
If she were to do another movie musical, which would she choose?
"I like Jersey Boys. There is a girl role, the one who falls for Frankie Valli."
What's next?
Film comedy Sydney White. "It's Snow White in college."
Shankman's take:
"She is like a young Lucille Ball."
Oh, I wanted to play this part so badly,” says Bynes. “Penny is just such a great character. She really gets to make a big personal change in the story and as an actor that’s so much fun when your character goes from frumpy to va-va-voom like Penny does. I love musicals and grew up doing any kind of musical or comedy that I could possibly be a part of because making people laugh and being goofy is, to me, the greatest joy in the world.”
Bynes recalls the day she was “bookended” in a scene with veterans John Travolta and Christopher Walken: “I definitely felt freaked out,” she says. “I was so excited and I called my parents and told them I wish they were there to see it. John and Chris were both so nice, but for someone like me who loves movies, they are huge movie stars. So getting to do Hairspray was probably one of the coolest gifts I’ve ever received.
In fact, the actress met director Bill Condon, a friend of Waters, after a recent screening. "And he said, 'I think you have the most John Waters-crazy in your eyes,' " she recalls. "And I was like, 'Thanks, I guess.'
I grew up doing musicals before I was ever on television. I did The Sound of Music and The Music Man, so when I found out they were doing Hairspray I wanted to be Penny because she is a great role with an arc.
Hairspray is a different species because it has a message; [it's] a period piece with an interracial relationship.