Welcome to the LazyPod podcast.
Welcome to the LazyPod podcast.
I'm Mark Valenti, the head writer for LazyTown.
And with me today, as you can see, is the one, the only Chloe Lang, Stephanie, she's
the one that wears the pink wig and are used to anyway.
As we can tell, she's grown up quite a lot since those days and she's been very busy
ever since. So I would really like to just start with talking about when you were little,
little, because I've seen pictures of you when you were an early performer.
Were you always interested in doing things on stage or on film?
Always, for as long as I can remember, I've loved performing.
I actually started out as a dancer.
My older sister had been in dance.
So when I was like two years old, I started taking dance classes.
So when I really say as long as I can remember, I mean it.
But yeah, I started out dancing competitively, so constantly performing and traveling for
that. And then around the age of seven or eight, I started to sing.
Just it was kind of like a hobby of mine and I wanted to start taking lessons.
And shortly after that, I got into the acting world and kind of it went off from there.
But yes, I've always loved performing and it started with my love for dance.
What was that? What do you think that was?
Was it just a little sister looking at a big sister going, I want to do that, too?
Or I mean, because I've seen some of the footage of you early and you sort of you.
You had one of those like, I'm a kid who can do this.
You had that sparkle. You know, did you see stuff?
On TV or in movies like I can do that or not, not even I.
I just I remember being so like kind of like musically inclined in that sense.
And I I didn't necessarily like follow in my big sister steps.
We were obviously in like different, different classes and everything.
And we were the only people in our entire family that have danced, really.
My family, there's some musicians in the family,
but other than that, there's no like actors, dancers or performers.
So it was kind of like random for me and my sister to do that.
I think my mom was just like, oh, I have girls and we put them into dance.
So it just started out as kind of like a fun hobby activity thing.
But then once I realized how much I really loved it, I when I got a little bit older,
I wanted to start training like a lot more seriously.
So that's kind of how it all started.
But, yeah, my sister, she ended up stopping dance when she went to college.
So it was it was just me that was dancing.
So when you said you did it, you got into dance competitions.
Was that kind of like a dance mom kind of like that show that's on TV?
That like was it ruthless and like backstabbing?
And it was pretty ruthless and lots of drama.
Obviously, not as bad as what you see on TV, because that's, you know,
advocated for for the show.
But there was definitely a lot of drama.
Luckily, my mom wasn't a crazy dance mom,
but I had a lot of good friends that had crazy dance moms.
So I know my fair share about that.
But I always tried to kind of remove myself from that.
That wasn't really the part, like the point of competing for me,
the drama and like the winning title.
It's like just that adrenaline that you get before you go on stage
and then kind of working so hard all year and that feeling
when the performance is finally done.
And you're like, yes, that's what I was chasing.
So I tried to ignore all the drama growing up.
Yeah, that's hard to do, though.
It seems like, you know, because if you look at like videos
of sporting events with kids and the parents are on the sidelines
going crazy and yelling at the umpire and all that sort of thing.
But I know your mom, and she's not that kind of person.
She's just always very levelheaded and she's got your best interests at heart.
And so how about in school when you were doing these things
and you were getting winning awards and things where you did other kids
know that you were like, that's the dancer.
She's winning these competitions.
Uh, honestly, I feel like not so much, really,
at least not until I got to high school,
because that's when I joined my high school dance team.
And so then we started like it was more school involved.
So a lot of my school friends got to like see us perform
at like the football and basketball games.
And we're just like kind of more involved with the school, I guess.
But before that, people like knew I danced,
but they really had no idea what it entailed and like what it really involved.
All they knew is that I was like constantly
like at dance class until nine o'clock at night.
So yeah, that's a lot.
I mean, early mornings, Saturday weekends, just always rehearsing.
And did you have to go to like a dance studio to rehearse?
Or could you do that at home?
Yeah, a dance studio.
Luckily, not far from my house, but
definitely didn't have the space at home.
I've seen some of the stage appearances that you made during competitions.
And like you were all over that stage, I mean, from one side to the other.
And it's very acrobatic and athletic.
Yeah, that's actually part of how they judge you is how much of the stage you use.
Because, like you said, it's it's way more kind of like athletic
to move all over rather than just stay in one spot.
So it was it was exhausting.
I've always advocated for dance being
such an intense sport and truly a sport
just because of how much athleticism it takes and just everything about it.
It's so tedious.
How do you feel about it now?
Looking back, do you do you still have those skills?
But it's it's different when you're an adult.
It's very different.
Yeah, I kind of took a little hiatus
when I came to college because I, you know, I wanted to focus on,
you know, just school really.
And I was in the business school and then covid happened.
So there really wasn't any dancing in person.
So the best way for me to try and stay in touch with that is just like
stretching at home and like I love to work out still.
So I still would consider myself athletic.
But I haven't taken like a dance class or trained
like I did when I was younger since I graduated high school.
So it's definitely like a different kind of relationship
that I have with dance now.
And I still love it so much.
But it was like my whole entire life growing up, especially in high school.
It was really demanding.
The older you get, the more they expect you to train.
Sure. So I was kind of I was like happy with my decision when I stopped dancing.
I knew that I didn't want to do it professionally or anything like that.
I really wanted to focus on on acting and getting good grades in school.
I went I got a BBA, so it was the business school.
So lots of reading and writing and studying and all of that stuff.
So, yeah, that's kind of how I shifted my focus.
But I still love watching dance and I still like crave
the feeling of like dancing and just getting up on stage.
But my body doesn't do it the same anymore.
It feels a lot harder now.
Pay the price when you get older.
So at some point, did you do like musicals and stage productions and things like
did you move into that sort of thing in school?
Not really, actually.
People always kind of ask that.
They're like, oh, were you a theater kid in school?
And I really wasn't.
I was never involved in any of the school plays.
That probably sounds bad, but I was always way too busy with
with other stuff.
And I did some like some local theater
in my town and stuff like that.
But mostly just TV film experience
and like on stage dancing, but not so much like theater.
Commercials and print ads, things like that.
And was your mom sort of your agent at that time?
Or did you you had like representation for?
Well, I got representation very young.
My mom has always been and probably will always be my momager.
She just loves to be involved and just really just support me.
She doesn't try and micromanage anything, but rather than just offer a helping hand.
So I really appreciate that.
I don't know where I'd be without her.
But yeah, the first kind of like acting job I did, I was just an extra.
It was a day at Lake Compounds.
I don't even know if I even made it in the clip,
but we were like supposed to be sitting around a part table.
I just fell in love with the whole process of making a movie
and being on set and everything about it.
And I immediately asked her, I was like, I want to keep doing this.
So her best way to go about it was to try and find me a manager
that actually knew the industry and could actually send me out on jobs
that she wasn't just finding on like Craigslist.
So so, yeah, I joined with Prestige Management
when I was like nine years old, eight years old, maybe.
And I'm still with them to this day.
So it's it's awesome.
Yeah, I love my manager, Paula, so much.
We're very close.
About your mom, you know, when when when it was time for us
to regenerate LazyTown and it was time to cast a new Stephanie,
you know, we looked at a lot of tapes.
And one of the key factors was, you know,
because we had had a good experience with Juliana and her mom, Kahlua.
And we could instantly tell that your mom was one of those people
that you could really rely on.
She was a normal person.
She was protective of you.
She made sure that you studied and and she was going to be with you
the whole time. And that was that was like a big deal to us.
I remember having this conversation because we saw a lot of tapes
and because everybody wanted that part.
And it just I mean, not only did you have the talents
and you projected well on the screen and you really popped.
It was like, oh, yeah, she's she's going to fit that pink wig really well.
But you had the kind of support that because you were coming to Iceland,
you know, it's no small thing to come to Iceland.
It's a big deal that you did that.
I mean, I'm an adult and it was hard for me to leave my family
and my town and all that and spend time up there.
I remember the first time that you flew up there with your mom.
I think the first time I met you was at the airport in New York.
And we all got on the plane and you were excited.
It was like late at night, a late night flight.
And you guys sat right behind me on the plane.
And every now and again, I'd look back there to see if you were sleeping
and you weren't sleeping. You were like too excited.
I'm pretty sure we saw the Northern Lights that flight, right?
Yeah. And they were really, really strong.
Sometimes they're not, but they really were.
Yeah, that was special. I remember that.
That's when the adventure began. Did it feel like an adventure?
I mean, you were with your mom and you were going to work.
So it's a job.
And you had had enough of those to know what that means.
But did it still feel like this could be fun?
This could be an adventure?
Or were you just more like, were you nervous?
Were you like, oh, God, what did I do?
No, I I only remember being extremely excited.
Even when we signed the contract,
it was like a huge like packet.
I remember like I think my mom like printed it or whatever it was.
But it was like my mom and my dad.
And they were like reading it over like for like the hundredth time,
like one last time.
I think she took a photo of me when I was signing it.
But I don't remember ever having any doubts, any nerves, any regrets.
And I think I'm lucky because my mom handled all of that.
Obviously, like you said, looking back on it now,
like it was such a major decision to go for me to go for my mom
to come with me, unenroll from school.
Just like everything that followed was like major.
And at the time, there was no like it wasn't an option to say yes or no.
Like when I found out I got the job, I was like, oh, my gosh, we're going to Iceland.
There was never like there was never like, oh, I don't know about this.
So, yeah, I once again, I just kind of thank my mom
for taking on all of that major responsibility stuff.
Not necessarily in silence, but she didn't like project any of that stress.
And talking about it now that I'm older, she was like, no, it was really stressful.
And I'm like, I had no idea.
So she just let me live in that bubble of excitement.
And she knew that she was going to do whatever it took
to kind of protect me and support me.
So I had so much fun from day one.
I remember like packing and just want like we brought everything.
We had like 10 suitcases.
What do you bring?
You know, what do they have food up there?
You know? Yeah, I know.
And I was a picky eater, like I still am.
But back then, I was really bad.
I only had like pasta with butter and like chicken.
I don't know if you remember, but the chef said a little bit about that.
But the chef was always good about, you know, he was always really good.
He always had to make me something like bland and special
rather than what all the adults were eating.
So it definitely was a bit of a culture shock once I got there.
But in like the best way possible, I love being outside and I love nature
and just traveling in general and experiencing different cultures.
And luckily, I'd done some traveling already.
So like I'd been to Germany, I'd been to a couple other places.
So I kind of knew a little bit what to expect,
but nothing can prepare you for Iceland.
It's just it's one of a kind.
So I had a lot of fun getting to learn about all of that.
And, you know, I remember on the first day we got picked up
Linda, she was like one of my kind of like assistant friends
who's supposed to kind of help the transition.
And she took me and my mom to the public pools.
So we were like, whoa, what is this?
And just so happened to be like what we did, like three times a week.
It was like, that's what they do there.
And it was so fun.
So I just I had the best time.
And all of you guys were so great.
I think that's why I had no regrets,
because it lived up to every expectation and more.
You guys, like all the cast and crew were so great to me.
Like, let me be a kid, let me have fun.
And yeah, it never really felt like like obviously it was hard work,
but I always enjoyed it so much that it was never like,
I have to wake up and go to work.
Like it's always like I would jump out of bed and be like, let's go another day.
Jumping around and having fun.
There was like a blizzard happening.
It was a little hard for me to get out of bed sometimes and drive to work.
But it was always great to actually arrive and be there on the set.
And, you know, there's we had I don't know how many 50 people maybe
all working and a lot of them from different parts of the world
and coming together to to pull the show together.
And the stakes were very high because the budget was enormous on the show.
It was one of the most expensive kids shows ever.
But and I know the producers, of course, felt that and Magnus did, of course.
But it was the show that we were working on was so fun
with interesting and fun content that it didn't feel.
I mean, there was pressure, but it wasn't like, oh, God, what a drag.
Right. Yeah, I agree.
Obviously, there were long days and.
It was hard work, especially for a young girl.
But yeah, I just I don't ever remember kind of feeling like,
this is what I have to do.
So I just had to learn dialogue.
You had to learn songs.
You had to do dance routines, action sequences.
You had to learn how to work with puppets on screen,
which was kind of a trip.
You'd never done that before you started there.
That honestly wasn't as like trippy to me.
As walking on the catwalks were.
I remember the first episode we filmed, the first scene that we filmed was
it was like the boogie boogie boo.
And we're in the mayor's office, which is a raised set.
And, you know, Magnus, you if you remember how he was on set directing,
he's all over the place, the lightning bolt, and he's talking in Icelandic.
And then it's just, OK, action.
And so I remember just hearing the word action and being like,
what am I supposed to do?
And there was like this catwalk with, you know,
people like under me just in case I fell.
And I was like, this is crazy.
And we had to do it like five times because my body wasn't used to,
like, not looking down when you're walking on something high.
So that was like the biggest or like the most challenging part
about working with the puppets.
But I got pretty used to, you know, hearing their voices
coming from different where the eyeline was. Yeah.
The below voice, but the eyeline to directly in front of you. Yeah.
I was I was talking to Gumi Thor, who played Ziggy,
and he was saying that one of the biggest challenges for them,
because the puppets were so big and heavy that they knew that the humans
in the scene, you know, you and and Robbie and Sportacus
were going to be like sort of featured, but they had to make sure that they had
enough physical prominence so that they could be equal.
And I don't understand how that works.
You see some of the puppet shows that are just with little puppets,
and it's hard enough for that.
But somehow we pulled it off so that you believed that Stephanie
was talking to Ziggy and that that was a kid.
It wasn't just those puppets were so insane, so high quality.
And I remember Ron one time letting me put my hand into pixel
and I tried to move the mouth and my forearm
just wasn't even strong enough to do more than like two words.
And I was like, how do you guys do this and keep your arm like this?
That's great. You know, all day.
So a lot of respect for the puppeteers.
You ever miss putting the wig on?
No, that I actually don't miss that and being airbrushed.
I don't know if you remember, but I would have to get airbrushed
every morning on like my arms and neck to look like a doll.
I hated that part. It felt so cold and sticky.
And the wig was just hot and itchy. Yeah.
I remember, like, if there was going to be a long break,
if they were going to change the set or whatever, that it was like,
Chloe's taking that wig off for a few minutes.
Yeah, they let me take it off and I'd just be in a cap.
But you always had people like the makeup people.
Hannah Maia was always right there waiting to help out in any way.
She was always so great.
And I can't remember the woman who was our choreographer.
Oh, no. Ella. Yes.
I mean, people were Maria Maria in costumes.
Yeah. Oh, just great people.
And, you know, they're still working on stuff.
There was a show, True Detective, that a lot of the folks that worked on Lazy
Town are now working on that popular show.
Awesome. So that's really cool to see.
So so you you had.
Do you remember how many episodes you shot?
You did like two seasons worth.
I'd say 32, something like that, 16 a season.
Yeah. So when it was time to sort of wrap it up, were you sad to go?
Were you like because you were getting to be a teenage girl?
You wanted to see your friends go back home.
Yeah, I mean, I remember being sad, but I think when I left,
I was blinded by the excitement of going back home
and knowing that I was going to be able to go back into public school
because I was a little bit older at that point and I did kind of miss my friends.
But I don't think I really.
Was like prepared at the time,
like, I don't think I really took it as like a big goodbye
because looking back on it, I don't even like really remember packing up
and leaving because we did a lot of back and forth when we were filming.
So I feel like when I left, I left like I was coming back.
And then we just never came back to film.
Even though I knew that there was not going to be a season five.
I still just like it didn't really hit me
until much later.
But yeah, I will say the one thing that I wish
was that I kind of taken it in more.
And there was a lot of stuff from set that, you know,
like a lot of costumes that they were like, do you want any of these?
And I was just I was so used to being in it every day.
Like, I was like, no, I don't want that dress.
I don't want the dress. Like, I'm sick of that dress.
I've worn it for two seasons now.
But now that I'm older, it's like, oh, that would have been nice momento to have.
Luckily, I have the wig and like some some merch, some OG merch.
But yeah, but there's so much that's gone.
You saw the video of the fire that burned the studio down.
Well, I didn't see the video of the fire,
but I've been back to the studio since it's been burned down.
So I saw it when it was like crumbled.
And then I went back a year later.
And it's another warehouse now.
It's stores, but it's not.
It's so crazy to think that everything, the cantina, the sets,
the offices just all gone, burned up in smoke. It was.
Yeah, I know.
That was a sad thing.
All the buildings in that lot, too.
Just like, yeah, very crazy.
Yeah. And then you had a chance to go back to your family.
And I know you're close to all of your you've got your grandparents there,
which is very sweet.
You're making your grandparents famous on social.
Well, they're too cute.
They do it to themselves.
Yeah. But it's sweet to see that.
So when you came back home and you went back to school,
what is Graves End?
Graves End is
it's a it's a series.
There's two seasons, but it just got renewed for a third.
And it's kind of like a sopranos like Brooklyn in the 80s.
So lots of like violence and drugs and
good accents.
No, but I yeah, I got I got cast as a guest star on that on that show.
So I did three episodes for season two.
And I'm crossing my fingers that hopefully I'll make another appearance
for season three.
But that was a very fun show to film, a completely different character arch,
obviously, that Stephanie.
I did a fight scene.
So, yeah, just a lot of sass.
But yeah, that was a good one.
OK, we're going to have to drop a link to that somewhere and into the podcast.
And the Fifth Borough.
The Fifth Borough, that was
that was actually filmed a few years ago.
I think I was like 16 or 17 when they filmed that.
But I got cast in that when it was a pilot.
And then it got picked up, I believe, on
Peacock or Crave.
That's as as a film.
So so we filmed it.
Yeah. Like I said, this was a few years ago.
But that role was also very different.
That role is I was the daughter of kind of like another violent
kind of Brooklyn, Staten Island vibe.
But my character was using drugs.
And then, well, I guess I won't spoil it in case people want to watch the movie.
But definitely just like a very, very different
kind of role than anything I've done before.
So that one to this day was definitely still a challenge.
But I got to work with Tara Reid, Steve, who was the writer and director.
He was great, too.
Yeah, just once again, a great cast and crew.
And I love being on set, so.
So you know, more of this sort of thing.
You're done with school, is that right?
You're you're finished.
Yeah, I just graduated last May.
Yeah, there you go.
That's great. So and where did you go?
You were in New York.
Hayes University University.
That's awesome. You got your degree.
Yeah, I graduated
with honors in arts and entertainment management and a minor in marketing.
And I'm acting full time now.
And then I do talent management part time remote.
But yeah, it's kind of been
it's been an adjustment going from being a student my whole life.
And now I'm not a student.
So it's been fun.
That's like Look Out World. Here she comes.
Would your wildest dreams?
Would you ever entertain the thought of doing a years later
sequel to LazyTown?
Or would you rather not be sort of categorized as something
that you did when you were a kid?
You know, I think for a while.
Years closer to finishing,
I was trying to run from it, just really feeling like
people were never going to see me as anything else and
really trying not to get typecasted as like just a Disney girl,
because my heart is in, you know, drama,
comedy, too, but mostly drama
and just more like serious stuff.
Not that LazyTown wasn't serious.
Are you kidding? Sports candy. But
yeah, so I I kind of.
Really didn't want to be associated with it.
But since Covid per se,
I've really been focusing on my social media presence
and just trying to kind of monetize that
because I've had social media for so long.
I mean, the Instagram that I have to this day was made for me
by the PR team at LazyTown.
So yeah, they made me that Instagram,
the username and everything.
And I just started using it growing up.
I just kept that.
And then over Covid, I'd already kind of had such a following
because it's been my account for so long.
I was like, let me see, you know, let me try and take this to TikTok or whatever.
So I think realizing that so many people
still follow me and obviously, even though I'm not young anymore,
they they know me as that.
And they there's some people that know me as that,
and they can't understand anything else.
And that's fine.
There's just going to be people that are like that and whatever.
They're just like,
where's the pink hair and why are you wearing high heels?
Aren't you like 12?
And it's like, no, I'm, you know, 22 now.
But there's some people that learned of me or knew me from that
and have, like, watched me grow and appreciate where I'm at now
and support where I'm at now.
So I think that that's the part that's really special to me.
And that's what made me realize, like, I can still be associated with this.
It's just like that was, you know, I've grown since then.
So I'm not like I wouldn't be opposed to a reunion or anything like that.
The only thing that gets funky for me is like
trying to put the dress in the wig back on, like putting that same outfit back on.
It feels a little weird.
But like in general, I don't have to be some major updates
to all of that sort of thing.
Exactly.
I'm sure someday somebody will pick that property up and do something with it.
So it'd be interesting to see what might happen.
I think also people who've watched the show and have seen your performances
recognize, especially when they get older and see the show and look back,
how much work that that it took to put that in and that you had real dedication
as a kid to put everything you had into the show.
And I think, you know, people have a lot of affection for you
because of that, that it was so entertaining and, you know,
nobody ever slacked off.
It was a hard show to put together, and it really shows on camera
all the hard work.
So I think it's such a high quality show.
It was. It's interesting.
And I think, you know, it's not so much on the air anymore,
but it's the 20th anniversary this year.
And I think we're developing a renaissance for the show here.
So who knows what might happen? You just never know.
Yeah, exactly.
I think I think there is still so much opportunity.
People still love LazyTown.
They still want more content, new content.
They want to rewatch the old content.
I mean, it's people associated with their childhood.
And a lot of people have really great memories associated
with watching that show.
And I receive a lot of sweet comments,
you know, like, thanks for making my childhood.
There definitely are people, like you said, that realize now,
like that they're older and getting to kind of see the BTS of it
or the behind the scenes that, like, I've posted.
And that's just all over the Internet.
They see how much work went into it.
So I do get a lot of like recognition for that.
But it is crazy now seeing how many people say that,
because obviously when I was younger and especially when I was filming it,
I really had no idea of, you know, just the amount of people that this was
the amount of people that know the show and that we're going to see
my face on TV, even if it was dubbed, you know,
because it was an international show.
It just it still blows my mind that people still recognize me.
Even just last week, I was just out and about in New York
and some someone walked by me and then they did a double take
and they were like, are you Chloe Lang?
And I was like, you know me like what?
And he was like, yes, I used to watch the show.
So it's just crazy how many people, you know, know and love LazyTown.
Yeah, there's a lot of affection.
And I know a lot of people are going to be glad to see you in this
and look forward to whatever else you may have up your sleeve
next in terms of acting roles.
So be sure to keep track of all that.
Yeah. And thank you very much, Chloe, for joining us today.
And we will plan some more of these in different formats
and different combinations of people from the show.
So it's great. Thanks very much.
Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me.
I love telling stories and reminiscing and talking about it.
And I have a lot more stories.
So let's do this. We'll do it again.
Thanks. Bye bye.
Thanks for listening to the LazyPod podcast.
In future episodes, we'll go behind the scenes with stories
about how the scripts were brainstormed and written.
We'll talk with the actors and crew members and we'll have special
episodes on the songs, the action sequences, the sets and props
and the studio itself.
Make sure you go to bed by 8 0 8.
And remember, there's always a way.
The LazyPod podcast.
