Michael D. Reid, Times Colonist
Published: Monday, October 16, 2006
You wouldn't think it from the looks of her, but Kaley Cuoco -- like many young women growing up in image-conscious Los Angeles -- has spent more time than she'd care to remember worrying about her weight.
"Being in Hollywood, you're never perfect," says the slender blonde actress best known as the sexy demon-vanquishing young witch Billie Jenkins in the WB series Charmed and as Bridget Hennessy, daughter of the late John Ritter's sportswriter in the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.
"Right now they're going through this whole anorexia thing. You're either too skinny or too fat or too this or too that. They never seem to be happy."
Clad in a striped, aqua-coloured top, jeans and sneakers, Cuoco, 20, looks light enough to be whisked away by an ocean breeze that picks up on a crisp autumn afternoon on Fairfield's picturesque Wellington Street where she's filming Fat Like Me.
Indeed, any concerns she might have about her own weight are nothing compared to those her character -- or, rather, her obese alter-ego -- deals with in the movie being made here for broadcast on Lifetime in the U.S. during the January sweeps.
Inspired by a true story, Fat Like Me centres on Aly, an attractive teenager who loses out on an athletic scholarship and hopes to win a high school competition by making a documentary about obesity. To accomplish her goal, the popular girl dons a "fat suit" to go undercover and is saddened to learn how intolerant her peers can be.
During her journey, Aly comes to appreciate the struggles that her once-heavyset mother endured in her costly battle with diabetes. She also learns that her winning personality will only take her so far in a heavier body.
"Throughout the movie Aly finds out a lot about herself, and it takes a toll," says Cuoco, a fast-talking dynamo and "impatient person" who admits it's tough sitting still for three hours each day for the application and removal of prosthetics.
To turn into "Faly" -- as her chubbier self is affectionately known on set -- Cuoco has her sticky facial prosthetic glued on and gingerly removed and dons prosthetic limbs attached to a suit that is uncomfortably hot and makes it difficult to move.
"I feel like I'm suffocating in it," she groans. "I have ice packs up and down my back, in my underwear, everywhere. It's horrible."
Even when the cameras aren't rolling, Cuoco says she gets strange looks when she's in her fat suit.
"It's interesting that you can talk about drug addicts and alcoholics and gamblers and those sorts of issues but no one talks about weight," she says. "It's been pretty unbelievable and very emotional, very humiliating to put myself in such a place."
Playing Aly has "put down the toilet" her own paranoia about whether she looks "fat" in a certain pair of jeans, she says.
"The movie has shown me just to be happy with who you are. If you think you're overweight, it's how you view yourself that matters -- not how the world views you."
Fat Like Me, which she describes as "the most challenging thing I've done" is a departure from what this California girl is used to.
She got her start in showbiz at age six as a model and commercial actress, and was a nationally ranked amateur tennis player until she decided to pursue acting full-time. Her television credits include roles in Ellen (as "Little Ellen"), Northern Exposure and My So-Called Life. She appeared in movies such as Growing Up Brady (as Brady Bunch star Maureen McCormack) and Picture Perfect after making her feature debut as an imperiled youngster in the 1995 sci-fi thriller Virtuosity.
"I was kidnapped by Russell Crowe, saved by Denzel Washington and Kelly Lynch was my mom and I didn't know who any of them were," she recalls with a laugh.
A self-described "goofball," Cuoco says she loves the rush of doing sitcoms for a live audience after a week's rehearsals. "It's what I live for. I can't tell you how much fun it is. On show night --there's nothing like it."
One of her most rewarding experiences was working opposite Ritter until he died at age 54 after collapsing during rehearsals on the set of 8 Simple Rules three years ago. "John and I were very close. He's one of my favourite people ever," she says affectionately.
"There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about him. 8 Simple Rules... was a life-changing experience for me. I went through my first death. I never had anyone I loved pass away -- especially in such a public venue."
Cuoco recently got to unleash her wacky streak again when she took on a small but colourful role in The Cougar Club, an upcoming comedy starring Carrie Fisher and Faye Dunaway. She says she relished the chance to let it all hang out as Amanda, a marriage-obsessed girlfriend who favours loud outfits and drives around in a bright orange Volkswagen Bug.
"Especially after this movie I want to do something like that again, because this one is so serious."
In the meantime, she plans to take a breather and spend a month riding and training her two horses -- a warm blood named Brock, her jumper, and a thoroughbred, Bo -- for a competition in Santa Barbara.
"I feel everybody in life has to have more than one thing. If acting was my only thing I'd go insane. There are way more important things in life than just being on TV."
mreid@tc.canwest.com
Found at: JK.com
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