Acting Out

Amber Tamblyn isn't shy to speak her mind. Here, the poet and actress dishes on Hollywood, fashion, and why a not-so-perfect 
smile is beautful.


Amber Rose Tamblyn's smile is pretty, playful and sometime cheeky. Best of all, it's real. Yet in Hollywood, where Chiclet-toothed smiles reign, some have frowned that hers isn't perfect enough and wanted her to try veneers.

Tamblyn thought she looked hideous with the mouthful of falsies given to her when she landed the role of Joan Girardi on Joan of Arcadia. "I took them to the set, put them on, went to the producers and said, 'Guys, there's nothing wrong with me,'" she recalls. "'This is just people being fearful because magazines pick everyone apart so that nobody looks normal any more.'" Needless to say, this take-charge girl got her way.

In many aspects, this get-real attitude set Tamblyn apart from her Hollywood peers. The 23 year-old has no interest in attaining physical perfection, even though the pressure to do so is there. "Perfection is a horrible thing visually," she says. While the easiest route might be to conform, Tamblyn only wants to be who she is. "I've lost jobs and people in my life because of that, but that's the price you pay.  Hemingway said that the hardest thing in the world to do is be yourself.  That resonates deeply with me because it's very hard to do in a place like this."

True Hollywood Story
Tamblyn grew up in Hollywood (her dad is actor Russ Tamblyn, who starred in West Side Story, The Haunting and Twin Peaks) and started her professional acting career before she was a teenager. Landing her first big role on the daytime soap General Hospital in 1994, she played Emily Quartermaine for seven years. Since then, Tamblyn has added many titles and genres of work to her CV, including the lead role in the hit TV show Joan of Arcadia (she was nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy for her portrayal of a teen who converses with God) and parts in movies like The Ring, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Grudge 2.

In April, you can catch Tamblyn on the big screen in Stephanie Daley (in which she plays a teen accused of murdering her newborn baby) and Spring Breakdown (along side Parker Posey, Rachel Dratch and Amy Poehler). It's these two films that have given her the best acting workout of her career. "As far as craft is concerned, Spring Breakdown was pretty intense. As 
funny as I feel I can be, it was a big lesson watching these brilliant women in their comedic craft and just being able to ride with them. It was incredible - it was one of the best shoots I've ever had."

Tamblyn is really enjoying her flourishing on-camera career - she describes it as both funny and silly. That's despite the hardships and drama of Hollywood, which she writes about on her website (amtam.com) and explores frankly in her poetry. In her poem "Dig," published in Free Stallion: Poems (Simon & Schuster, 2005), she says "Hollywood's got a face. Trophy wives with stitched-up sideburns look like third-degree burn victims." So why choose Hollywood as the place to expand and strengthen her acting instead of another arena? "Because I like the circus," she explains. "I'm fascinated by people who 
conditionally do not want to be themselves. And even though I don't want to be a part of that, I enjoy being around it."

Simple Enhancements
Just because she's not into nip-and-tucking doesn't mean that Tamblyn has shunned everything to do with beauty. In fact, she's excited when the subject turns to makeup and clothes. After spending her teen years in heavy makeup, she has she the layers for a more natural, everyday look, enhancing her features mostly with mineral-based makeup. Mascara, a rose-cherry shade of lip gloss and a heavy-scented perfume like Chanel No. 5 are tucked into her purse at all times.

Rummage through her closet and you'll find that her favourite designer, Petro Zillia, dominates. "She's really crafty and great," she says. "I often see a lot of big designers copying her stuff." Tamblyn likes to keep her look simple yet 
stylish. During her phone interview with glow, she describes herself wearing the following outfit: ultra-high-waisted Petro Zillia pants with slightly flared legs, blue Stella McCartney suspenders and a crisp white button-down work shirt.

When it comes to nutrition and exercise, Tamblyn abides by an everything-in-moderation philosophy. "I don't want to look like Madonna," she says. "I don't want to have a rock-hard body - that scares me." To stay on what she calls "the trim side of looking normal and healthy," Tamblyn eats a well-balanced vegetarian diet - she loves soups and salads - does yoga and works out with her personal trainer twice a week.

Getting Involved
Tamblyn's creative endeavours aren't the only things that peak her interest. She is also quite turned on to politics (she is a Democrat and has worked with Rock the Vote, a group dedicated to getting youth to vote) and considers herself an environmentalist. She drives a hybrid car but plans to swap it for an even more earth-friendly, biodiesel set of wheels by 2008.

Tamblyn also strongly believes in contributing to charities, which is something that has been important to her since childhood. IN fact, it's a Tamblyn family tradition not to celebrate Christmas - instead, the donate money to charities like Habitat for Humanity and hte National Wildlife Foundation. And she tries to lend her hands-on-support as much as possible, too. "If I'm asked by somebody to do something, I'm almost always there to help," she says. "And I would be there regardless of whether I had a recognizable face or not."

The Prose of Amber Rose
Away from the lights-camera-action, Tamblyn turn to her first love, poetry, a skill she has been honing since she was eight. It's an excellent medium - if not the best - to channel her creative energy. "I'm using my own words," she explains. "It's my own vision. I'm telling my own story and asking people to come along with me. A film isn't really yours; you're doing as much as you can put into it.

Her poetry is far from just a hobby - when Tamblyn was 16, poet laureate Jack Hirschman, her friend and mentor, published a poem she wrote when she was 12 in San Francisco's Cafe magazine. And Simon & Schuster published her first book Free Stallion: Poems, a collection of work written mostly throughout her adolescence, in 2005.

As she has matured and changed, so has her written voice. "I've gotten a lot more sarcastic with my writing and a lot more honest - brutally honest," she says. Tamblyn intends to publish her second book by the end of the year. And in a similar vein, she really wants to do another poetry tour this year - ideally with two or three artist friends (she did one in Southern California last year with her poet friend Derrick Brown - you can watch clips at youtube.com). Though she hasn't nailed down the specifics, Tamblyn envisions it as being like a one-woman show. "You would see so many pieces of Amber," she says. "I would sing you a lullaby, recite a poem and maybe even read a few entries from some Hollywood parties I've gone to."

Will poetry ultimately take centre stage in her career, pushing acting into the wings? Tamblyn is undecided, "The honest truth is that if I could write a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tomorrow and be out of this image-based game, I'd probably be out very fast," she admits. "But there is something to be said for the love of acting."

glow Magazine

March/April 2007

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