Amelie Zilber Talks Grown-ish, Blake Gray, & Madelyn Cline

Hi everyone, my name is Emily Silver. Today we were playing the picture game on young Hollywood and we will be talking about my new character on the season of grown ish, what's up in Hollywood today.

We're with Emily.

I'm good, I'm excited to be here. I'm obsessed with this um decorative situation and I would like to mimic it for my own home. Are you good at decorating? You think? I have a Pinterest of like multiple genres of decorative, like them all. But my mom is the mom is right there. She's the decorative queen. And I feel like I've, it's like a hand me down of her decoration style and we're by the beach right in santa Monica. So, but you, do you live on the beach? I live in west Hollywood area. Um you're on the beach a lot. I am on the beach a lot. Yes, We have a family home in Malibu, so it's right on the beach. Our dogs love it. It's home, we're so glad to have you on young Hollywood because our audience has been asking forever to have you on. And so when we got the confirmation, we're like, oh my gosh, and we have something very exciting to talk about now you've been posting a trailer for a long time. Yes, your selfies on your story. So how do you feel the world knows you're gonna be in grown ish. Um It's so exciting. I feel like I've been giving lots of like subtle hints about what I've been doing, posting in a trailer, being one of them. Um but I started filming a couple of months ago, we've started filming in March all the way up until last week, so up until august um it's been such a whirlwind of emotions. I've genuinely become so in love with all of my cast members, they're beautiful, beautiful humans and become so close for like such a cute little family and the crew is fantastic. I honestly had like the best time of my life. I gave a speech. I don't know why they made everyone do speeches but um when they were like and that's a season wrap anomaly. Um everyone was like speech speech speech. So um I did a little speech and I remember saying like I felt like I was going to summer camp, like every day that I was on set felt like summer camp and when it was over it was like kind of the culmination of a period of my life where I really bonded with everyone around me and like woke up so excited to go to work and I don't know, it was really just the best.

Yeah. Was it hard keeping a secret because obviously you were enjoying it so much but you can't tell anybody about it.

Yeah. So the thing about garnishes that has a very distinct lead cast um like the lead cast member came from blackish and like Yara and Marcus um they're kind of like the two leads the show and not being able to like we have so many cute photos that we all took together and not being able to share any of that content was definitely difficult because we have all these like Tic Tac's and some peas and film camera pictures that we've been wanting to post for forever. But we couldn't because people would obviously know that we were like on the set of grown ish. Um so it was difficult but I don't know, it was it was okay. We kind of just like reveled in the, there's almost something really unique about like experiencing something completely offline because I feel like a lot of the times we live in an internet culture where we want to share. Everything just goes, yeah. And like everyone gets to see what you're doing. But this was like kind of just our thing in the world. Didn't know the world knows about it. Yeah. And that was really special.

Well, the world's in for it because I imagine you have so many Tiktok, we have so much content. I'm like, I don't even know how to post this. There's too much. Well, speaking of content and pictures, so we're gonna play the picture game. Yes. So we have a bunch of pictures of you from your instagram. So we screen shot at them and on the back of them is a question, I'm gonna ask you the question and then you'll answer. Ok, okay, so we're gonna get to know you a little bit better and also your experience. Perfect. Okay, so first one of the trailer selfie, if you love that. Yes, So how did you find out that you got cast for grown ish?

That is a good question. So yeah, this was like, I had to block out the name because it wasn't yet common knowledge. Um but I auditioned. So I have been training um for acting for like, I was training a couple of months prior to when I got this audition, but I'm the type of person that really doesn't leave anything to chance and that's like the motto that I live by. So I was training really, really intensely, like 56 classes a week, 12 hours of training a week. Like I really, if I was gonna go for it, I was really gonna go for it. Um So actually told my agent at UTA and I was like, I think I'm ready to audition. This was at the beginning of March and she was like, okay, great, good to know. She sends me an audition. It's for grown ish. I'm like, wait, I love this show, I'm already already watch it, I'm a fan. Um Obviously it's my first audition, so odds are fairly horrendously low for me to get this, but you might as well try. Um and I sent in the audition and then I was actually with Yara at a Dior beauty event when I got an email from my manager like the following day after I sent in my audition and they were like actually need a video of you singing by tonight and I was like okay. Um So then I went home, sat on my bathroom floor, sent a video of me singing. I really don't like sing publicly but it's been something I've been doing like to myself and to close friends and family for my whole life. Um sent a video the next morning. They were like they absolutely love you, you have a session with the producer director like tomorrow and I was like what? Okay. So then they gave me a new new sides, like a new script and I memorized it and worked on it. Um And then I went on and they loved me and I actually got the confirmation when that next. But yeah I got it. It all happened so fast. It was just like crazy. Like that doesn't happen that you just like book your first audition. Like it like it was just a coincidence and love you love the show and I loved the show. Did you book your first audition like to show that you're familiar with you love and you would want to be in it. Yes. 100 okay, this next one that you ended okay, so you go to all types of events, you always, everyone always comments about you have the most stunning dresses and all your fits. How long does it usually take you to get ready for an event? Oh dear, that's a bit embarrassing. Um So this was taken at the Oscars actually and this is a Dior and Tiffany Dior dress and I'm wearing Tiffany jewelry, both of which at this point now in my life I'm global ambassadors for both, which is really cool. Um but this probably took like three hours of preparation, not to mention the fact that like, the mental preparation takes a whole day because I have a lot of social anxiety and being in public spaces like the Oscars. Yeah, it's just a lot, it's a lot too, wrap my head around, so it's a whole day prep, it's a whole day, but the actual hair and makeup actually takes like three hours and then we have to carve out like 30 minutes for content obviously, and this was my birthday, so it was just perfect, like I got the role of grown ish, I was going to the Oscars, I was wearing two brands that I'm not a global ambassador of and I was like, huge fans of at the time. Yeah, I'm getting dressed up when you know, obviously no one else really knew about grown ish like the information you had, you're just happy. It was it was like yeah it was so so so amazing. Yeah. Yeah perfect perfect. Okay back to the trailer your top three items that you had at all times with you and your cronies trailer. Oh that's a there was a lot so okay a phone charger and an ipad charger like just charger in general. Um Because we spend so much time like you go and you film and then they have to like change the setup and adjust everything that means they have to build a wall because that's where the camera was. So sometimes it takes like 30 minutes between setups. Um And I gotta have my devices and I also read on my ipad so um charger for sure because by two p. m. It's like gone we get there at four in the morning by two p. m. There's no battery left. Um And my ipad for reading obviously I I find it a lot more convenient to read on my iPad rather than like actual page flipping books also because like I really can't commit to reading a whole book at one time. Like I read 20 pages and I'm like next book, 20 pages next book and then by the end of the month I've read all of them but I just can't I don't know it's like um short attention span that my generation suffers deeply from. Um And then the third thing is cookies, cookies, cookies. I o I always have to have them in my trailer or like it's genuinely affects my food. I have to have white chocolate chip cookies.

White chocolate chip, white chocolate chip cookies, which has to be, it has to be like, I'll I'll bend for a milk chocolate, but like, but no, I'd really prefer white chocolate um has to be with me at all times.

How many cookies are you eating a day?

Oh, box okay. Like a box of cookies a day. My Instacart like charges and it's just the cookies like, oh yes, I'm like bristol farms, can I have eight boxes of cookies? Like we don't have that many in store. And they're like, you're like, no, okay, well I need them. So figure out what a fun fact people people know know know also like in this photo, so Dior. Um one of the women who works at Dior um she, I told her when we were in paris back at the show in March, like before I even got the audition um that I really love, like, and she was like, that's so bizarre, but they go off Queen. Um she sent me like four boxes of white chocolate cookies on my birthday delivered to the hotel room before the Oscars another great day.

That picture is the best. It's simply no doubt about it. Okay, we have missed. Er so you're quite the european girl, you're always traveling.

Thank you.

What has been your favorite, your memory?

My favorite europe memory. Um Oh goodness, there's so much. I mean I'm french, so like my whole paternal side of my family lives in France, my father, my grandparents, my cousins, my uncles, like the whole shebang lives in paris. Um So really memories can date back all the way to my birth, but I would say when it's focused on like my recent times in France when it hasn't been for family purposes and more for work purposes, I would say me and my boyfriend blake just took a day where we just decided to like walk and we didn't know where we were going and we were like, let's we have literally nothing to do today, let's just explore the city and go to these cafes and these shops and we just like walked for the whole day and had the best time and it was a really great, we had already been together for like a year and a half at that point, so we know everything about each other, but like we learned more about each other because you just really get into a space where it's just like the two of you in a prolonged period of time. Um and it was just like that kind of like picturesque almost movie. Like it was really sweet, especially cause you didn't like, like when you have no plans and you just do nothing by doing something, it always turns out the best.

Yes, it does. Okay. We love a blonde moment now that you're back blonde. So you went dark now you're back to blonde. Did you have to go blonde for grown ish? Or why did we make our way back to blonde?

So I am naturally like this color, but I like being blonde. I just feel better about myself being blonde. I don't know what it is. I went super super dark two years ago. Absolutely detested it. But like when you go dark, you can't go back to blonde right away. No, so it took a process of like going back and then for the first part of the season, garnishes split up into two parts. So like first episodes come out weekly for nine weeks and then there's like a couple of month break and then the second set of the nine episodes roll out weekly. Um so for the first nine, I'm my natural like brunette. Um second set, I'm blonde and I didn't have to do it for the show. If anything, I had to beg, I was like, please please please. And they were like, well because we have that like mid season break, you can. Um, so I got, I got to go blonde and I just felt so much, just more confident within myself doing that, but no one asked me to, I just like, it's a requirement for my mental health, I need to do this.

Thank you. Okay. Speaking of castmates that you love so much. Yes. What was your favorite thing about these two girls?

Oh I love them, I love them, I could really go on and on. So Tara, Here she is. Her jawline is so sharp, it's really the first thing I noticed about her, I was like, wow. Um But she is, she went to M. I. T. She's just like, she's very much like me, a very like, intelligent, hard working, loves to love good person. I was so blessed with these castmates because I know there's a stereotype that like it's so hard to make friends in L. A. But especially in this industry that stereotype does fall to be true. Um And I really like emotionally connected with both of these women. So Tara is not to mention hilarious, like she's high, I was gonna say knee slapping, but like that's not knee slapping, she's like rolling on the floor, laughing hilarious. Um Just so kind and intelligent and Justine is has the voice of an angel, She's a singer, and like I literally told her I was like, can you sing a song and I will make it my ring tone or my alarm like wake in the morning because it will just stay with me, She has the most angelic voice I have ever heard in my entire life and um she also is the type of person to protect the people she cares about. I went to a party logistic mean and she knew a lot of people there and I didn't and she was like no, you're just gonna hang out with me the whole night. Like she just introduced me to all of her friends and took care of me the entire night and finding true friends like that is really, really rare. Especially that situation is rare.

Yeah, I have like someone stay with you at the party the whole time and introduce you to her friends.

Yeah, exactly. I really could not say better things about these two beautiful. You guys look so good together by the way. I'm like we should be Spice girls, charlie's angels, something something there.

Okay, next one was this during, No, this was in new york city, so this is not during your walking. But um what is your favorite thing? What is one thing you love the most about blake?

I mean he's very, he's really pretty um that's very superficial, but no, on a real note, he just has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met in my entire life. Like my family adores him. Everyone who meets him just falls in love with him instantly. Like he just has, he's from texas and he has this like southern charm to him, but he doesn't have like any of the um political drawbacks look like most people who live in texas, but he's just such a beautiful soul. Like he really has so much love to give and cares so deeply about everyone. Um Yeah that's really, it's just like he's just so kind like that's an underrated fact about it is he's just so so so I know, I know my mom was like you're not allowed to date Southern boys, I'm like well here I have okay, this one.

So now that you have grown ish under your belt, what is one other huge acting role that you have?

Oh that's a really good question. Um I mean there's so much to explore, I think like the beauty of acting is that you get to tell stories and um obviously I'm super political and something that I find really compelling about acting is the idea of telling stories through a narrative that people are willing to listen to. And a lot of the times like when it comes to politics, people aren't willing to listen to facts, but when you tell them a story that has a political like subtext to it, they're a lot more willing to consider what you're saying and believe what you're saying to be true. Um So when it comes to acting, I really want to work on a piece that has social and political awareness, like really deeply ingrained into it, like not necessarily like the movie Get Out, but like that was such a clear example of something with like subtext Um or like the Hate You Give, There's a bigger message behind it. Yeah. I really, really want to work on a piece that not only challenges me as an actor to like draw deep into who I am in my core and like my political beliefs, but but also something that can really change the way people perceive something before they walked into the theater and after they walked out.

Yeah. You know, and you're also like very big, brings up this picture right here and describe it. So like you're a huge activist, so you're using your platform more than just like randomly posting, you know what I mean? Like people definitely pride you for that. That's like okay, she's using because you have such a big yeah, not a lot of people will use that to their advantage, you know what I mean? To spread awareness about real life issues. So speaking of this, you would literally go to the White House, which is insane. Do you think that why is it once so important for you to use your platform the way you do? And second would you ever be President?

Oh yeah. Um so it's really important for me. The reason I even decided to go on social media was because I wanted to reach a larger audience politically when I was 12, I started this newsletter called the two minute times and I would summarize the week's headlines in 3 to 5 sentences. Like per stories? I would take five stories and just summarize it for people my age. I started when I was 12, I did that for six years until I was 18, Covid hit.

And I was like, why do I literally only have 5000 subscribers after six years of sending out emails every sunday and thinking like, insidious amounts of work into it and getting like, no return. Um So I was like, okay, Tiktok is kind of happening. Um let's start posting political content and I did and it completely transformed everything about my life. Like it's it's it's hard to think about, but my videos went viral. People were messaging me like I grew up in a really Republican household and I had never been exposed to different political views and you've actually like inspired me to research more and learn more and you're actually causing me to like, change my perspective. And um that was like why I got into it. That's the whole reason why I do what I do, is because I think that like, education is really the foundation of everything politically in our country. Um and I got to go to the White House and I got to speak with Pete Secretary of Transportation, Pete, which was cool because I actually was like, go Pete go mr but for the 2020 election, he did not win that. Um I think he should run again though, but it was so cool. It was like such a um, Yeah, it was like such a mind. I was like, how is this even happening? How did I get here? I mean, I was 19 at this point, like how my 19 year old speaking to like one of our world's leaders, like how is this happening? Um, it was very cool. And why do I do I want to run for president? I don't, I don't know. I think like I used to think my online presence would be a deterrence for any possibility of like me running for office in any type of way. But I think that we're in a completely new era and like anyone who runs for president by the time that I'm like age 50 will have an online presence. It's almost impossible to escape. So who knows? I'd love to, but maybe not. I don't know, time will tell.

Okay, we'll do 21. Yes. Okay. So these Tiktok that you made a metal incline when you were in paris parasite thing went absolutely viral. What is your favorite thing? And do you watch other banks?

Oh, I do watch Outer banks. I just, I watch it. I watched the first season and then I'm at Maddie and we like, honestly just hit it off so well. And I was like, well I, I owe it to her to keep to keep watching. Um Maddie is such a sweetheart. Like, you know those moments where you're at an event or like at a party and like two girls, like you just like take a friend to go to the bathroom and like loud music and yeah, and then it's late at night and then you go to the bathroom and you're like can I borrow your ladder and you just, you come out of the bathroom and you're like best friends, and Maddie is such a sweet soul and she also works so hard, she inspires me to be a better actress and I, she's filming on the beach right now and she has been for like ever and I cannot wait for her to come home by the time this comes out she might actually be, but I welcome home daddy, I can't wait for her to come home and she loves to read, which is like so cool to find someone in this industry who like really loves to read and loves to challenge their existing thoughts um I love her, she seems great.

She is. Okay, last one, this, this has nothing to do with garnish, but you look really good.

Thank you.

Describe your grown ish experience in three words.

Describe my grown ish experience in three words, exhilarating, exhausting and like life changing, like I made the bestest of friends and it really cemented in my belief system that like this is the path, I want to follow, this experience really made it known to me that like this career is what I want to take on and who I wanna be changing. Yeah, it was Yeah.

The Picture game. Love, Thank you so much for playing.

Thank you for taking all these pictures of me and the world, literally did your pictures.

We just we just posted that video. Thank you guys so much for watching. I had a blast playing picture game and I hope you had fun watching it. If you want to watch grown ish, it's available on Hulu and Disney plus weekly episodes. And remember to subscribe to the Young Hollywood Youtube channel. Bye guys! Yeah.