You may recognize Chelsea Ricketts from her guest-spots on TV shows like Big Time Rush and Zeke and Luther, or her recurring roles as Britney on 10 Things I Hate About You and Marta on Lincoln Heights. But she has also made her mark in film, most recently, she has starred in two upcoming films, Crooked Arrows and Chasing Shakespeare.

I was recently given the opportunity to interview Ms. Ricketts for Teen Ink about these upcoming projects.

Rachel – Tell us a little about yourself.

Chelsea Ricketts – Okay! My name is Chelsea Ricketts. I am an actress. I moved up to L.A, I guess four years ago now. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and I still love it! My whole family is still there.

RH – How did you first become interested in acting?

CH – I kind of started when I was a little kid. By chance, I randomly ran into a situation that opened me up to it. And ever since I was a little girl, I just absolutely loved it! It is my passion literally from age, like, four.

RH – One of your latest projects is Crooked Arrows; tell us about filming that.

CH – Crooked Arrows was absolutely amazing! We filmed out in Boston, which was cool because I had never been there. It was just amazing. It was two months in Boston and I was really the only girl. {laughs} So I was hanging out with, I don’t know, like 14 awesome lacrosse players! So it was a pretty fun experience.

RH – What was it like being the only girl?

CH – {laughs} It was fun at times ‘cause I got a lot of attention, but then at other times it was just like, “Oh, my gosh, I miss my girlfriends! I need to lock myself in my hotel room!” But for the most part it was amazing!

The boys are so sweet and so respectful. I had a blast. Literally! There wasn’t one day that I wasn’t having the time of my life.

RH – Are you anything like your character?

CH – I’d like to think so. Absolutely. I want to be just like Nadie. She’s really, really cool!

I think I’m like her in the ways that I, growing up, always kind of wanted to hang with the guys and be able to be tough and play sports and keep up. So, yes, in that way, I just think Nadie’s a little bit cooler. {laughs} She’s just a little bit cooler than me.

RH – Both Crooked Arrows and Chasing Shakespeare have a Native American aspect to them; are you Native American?

CH – I am partially, on my dad’s side. Yes.

RH – There is a book called Chasing Shakespeare; is the film based on that book?

CH – It is not. No.

RH – What is Chasing Shakespeare about?

CH – Chasing Shakespeare is an absolutely beautiful story.

I read the script while filming Crooked Arrows. I read it at like one in the morning in my trailer in Boston, and I fell in love with it!

It’s about a girl and a guy who fall in love and have to go through the hardships of family and sickness and a couple other things that I shouldn’t say. It’s just basically a story of how love can conquer a lot of things. It’s a beautiful story!

RH – What was the most challenging thing you’ve had to do on that film?

CH – The most challenging thing was reciting Shakespeare! I actually really, really love Shakespeare. I studied it through high school and a little bit in Jr. High, but it’s hard! People think that performing Shakespeare is easy; it is not.

I memorize lines for a living! But trying to memorize Shakespeare and speak it in the right way was really difficult. That was the hardest thing working on Chasing Shakespeare. But it was fun! It was really fun.

RH – Tell us about your character.

CH – My character is the lead. It’s all about her. She’s the one that falls in love with kind of a difficult, kind of forbidden love at the time.

[The movie] flashes back from me at my young age and me in my old age at the end of my life. It’s really cool.

I don’t really know how else to explain it without giving anything away.

RH – Did you play both parts? Were you made up as an older woman?

CH – No, I played Venus from about 17 to 22. Then it would flash to me in old age. Mike Wade plays my love interest as a young guy and Danny Glover plays my love interest as an old man.

RH – Danny Glover is a very prominent actor in Hollywood; what was it like working with him?

CH – {laughs} You know what’s funny? Me and Mike Wade, who play the young versions, we worked for like the first two months on the film. [We] filmed all of our stuff. They got rid of the young cast [from the flashbacks] and the older cast came in. So I never even worked a day on set with Danny. It’s crazy how they did it.

RH – Have you gotten to meet him?

CH – No! I know I get to see the film, like a screening of it, I think the first week of April and I get to meet him then.

It’s just so funny! I’m like, “Oh, you’re playing my love interest as an older man,” and I’ve never even met him on set.

Yeah, I’ll meet him soon. Definitely.

RH – That is interesting!

CH – I know! So weird. Movies. What’d ya know?

RH – What was it like working on Big Time Rush?

CH – Oh, gosh! I had so much fun on Big Time Rush! I mean, I’ve had fun on all of them, but Big Time Rush was up there.

I’m really good friends with the boys, anyways. Logan Henderson is from Texas, so I’ve known him for a really long time. So it was kind of cool to be like, “Oh, hey, I’m gonna be on your show!” (‘Cause he had no idea!) So that was really cool.

It was fun! It’s so different from everything else that I do. A lot of the stuff that I do is really serious, so it was kind of nice to step out of my comfort zone and get to be just silly and fun and loud. I had a blast working on that show!

RH – Is there a chance that your character will come back?

CH – There’s definitely a chance! There’s no, like, for sure, no.

RH – One of the movies you were on early on in your career was called The Hole; it sounds like a horror movie, so what was it like filming that movie?

CH – That movie was really fun!

My character wasn’t involved in, like, all the scary stuff. I played the best friend of the character who was going through all the scary stuff. So, for me, it was just really cool. I just got hang out with her and hang out by the pool. My scenes were all really fun and easy.

So, yeah, I didn’t get to experience all the terror and all that scary stuff.

RH – Who is an actor you would like to work with in the future?

CH – Somebody that I look up to—I love her career; I love everything she’s done; I think she’s incredibly talented—is Rachel McAdams. I would say I’d like to aspire to have a career very similar to hers.

I would absolutely love to work with Johnny Depp! That would make my life complete! {laughs}

That’s probably my male and female top favorites. Obviously, Meryl Streep; everybody loves Meryl Streep.

RH – Aside from Crooked Arrows and Chasing Shakespeare, what other projects are you currently working on?

CH – I’m going to be appearing on the AMC show, The Killing, in season two. I cannot say anything about my character other than I will be appearing on that show starting in April and it’s a recurring character. You’ll see me through-out that season.

RH – What advice do you have for aspiring actors?

CH – Just to stick with it. You have to have an absolute passion for what you do or there is no point in doing it. Because it’s tough, but if you love what you do, you absolutely will succeed.

I’ve been working at this since I was literally four years old. I started doing commercials. Never once have I given up, and now it’s all paying off. I feel more myself on a set than I do anywhere else.

So, my main advice is if you truly love it and it’s your passion, don’t ever give up ‘cause it’ll happen.