- Hi I'm Avan Jogia, author of Mixed Feelings
and general actor, and person who breathes.
Welcome to my firsts.
(upbeat music)
First quote that comes to mind when you think of
your "Victorious" character Beck Oliver?
Lean, he liked to lean on stuff.
That was his main top number one thing he liked to do,
is to lean on lockers and in all walls.
And also boots, like combat boots,
they were like the heaviest combat boots
I've ever worn in my entire life.
First impression of your "Victorious" co-star Ariana Grande?
Well, my first impression of both Liz and Ari
is that they sang a lot,
because they both came from Broadway.
So they were just doing show tunes all the time.
Which is hilarious to me
because I mean I'm just not the show tune type.
I don't know if that's coming across.
So that was my first impression of Ari
but also my first impression of Liz in general.
My first kiss.
So the gym at my high school had, I say "high school."
I didn't really go to high school,
it was like two years like Grade 9 and Grade 10.
But the gymnasium had like this,
it's like Phantom of the Opera rafters.
So we would go up there and we made out there.
It was the thing to do, because you know
(beep) gym class, right?
First time you were starstruck.
Oh, I love this story.
Okay, so I just first moved to LA, I was 17 years old.
I dropped out of high school to move to LA.
And I was in a elevator going to a general meeting
or some sort of thing.
This guy walks onto the elevator
and he has this big straw hat on
and this ruffle green shirt, with a green bow-tie.
And then I was like that's Andre 3000.
And he started going.
♪ Heya ♪
Like to himself, because he knew I was watching.
And I was like, that's very cool of him.
First memory from the set of "Victorious."
Before we started shooting at Nick on sunset,
we shot at this studio called the Renmar.
I don't even know if it, I think it's torn down
or a complete different studio now.
And we shot there, and they gave us
these little early digital camcorders.
Like something that is completely archaic technology now.
You wouldn't even know how to use it.
But they gave us these little camcorders, to document our,
I wonder where all that footage,
I think Matt Bennet has all that footage.
First career aspiration.
Actually my first career aspiration is
I wanted to be a writer, I wanted to be an author.
Which I've hilariously done randomly
with Mixed Feelings, last minute.
Did not know I was going to be writing a poetry book.
But my first inspiration, I wanted to be a poet.
I wanted to be like a 17th century poet.
I wanted to be like frilly shirts and lots of absinthe.
That's sort of the general thing I wanted to do.
(laughing) Realized not really that fun, to do any of that.
A lot of syphilis, not a good time.
But I still love poetry
and I still loved that type of romantic poetry.
And now, this year, Mixed Feelings, I actually am a writer.
Less absinthe, less syphilis, less frilly,
actually no, same amount of frilly shirts.
I still wear the same amount of frilly shirts
as I dreamt I was gonna be able to wear.
First role you really wanted that went to someone else.
I have to say, I've gone a little Zen master
about the auditioning process.
I don't really care.
And I don't mean to be flippant about that,
my job is to do the best performance that I can give
to each character that I am.
If I'm just a character for one audition,
for like four minutes, eight minutes,
then I'm doing my best version of that.
And that's where I get the joy,
because I perform a small play for the eight or three people
that are in the room.
And so I've sort of changed my psychology
about the auditioning process.
I'm not in competition with anyone.
So I don't really pay attention to who gets parts
that I didn't get, do you know what I mean?
Like I don't care.
First time I was recognized in public.
I don't really remember this,
it just started happening all of a sudden.
The weirdest time I was ever recognized in public,
I was in Bali on the back of a moped
in the middle of just rice patties everywhere.
And this guy (laughing)
buzzes next to me on a moped.
He was like "You're from Tut, I know you from Tut."
And I was like, "Really, that's amazing."
He's just this random Balinese guy,
on a moped was like, "I know you."
That was the weirdest experience.
But this is the thing about what we do,
information goes everywhere, its so quick.
This video is going to be seen by somebody in Romania,
and that's weird to me.
First book that you read or connected with.
So in line with the whole poetry thing,
Tell Tale Hearts by Edgar Allen Poe,
I had the complete work sera on Poe.
And I went to my third grade class and show and tell,
read them with a lot of passion, too much passion we'll say.
And they were very scared.
And I was asked to sit down.
First thirsty fan reaction.
No one's ever asked me for water or anything like this.
No, I don't know.
You get crazy interactions on Instagram,
with thirsty people.
I think people are more thirsty on the internet.
I think it allows people, like they can get away with.
You know what's funny, is because people don't flirt
in public anymore, like with each other.
They flirt online and then they're shy in public,
which I think is a very interesting
energetic shift in our culture.
It's like no one actually flirts with you in public anymore.
My first job.
I started acting when I was very young.
I started acting when I was like not very young, I was 14.
So the first job I has was actually an acting job.
And it was a commercial for yogurt if I remember correctly.
And then also I did a commercial for Harry Potter board game
of a variety that I can't remember.
And it's because I could do like a faux English accent.
I was like, "It's a golden snitch."
It was my line, that was my line.
Commercials, a lot of commercials.
Excitable ethnically ambiguous kid, eats slop for money.
First castmate that I bonded with
on the set of Zombieland: Double Tap."
I think me and Jessie bonded a lot.
I mean me and Abigail do most of our scenes together,
so obviously we bonded.
But the thing that stands out to me,
is holding a bit of fence.
There's this part, we're making a zombie barricade.
We just held this bit of fence for three days straight.
Because it takes so long to all the zombie stuff,
like the zombie stunts and the thing.
And the special effects and all the stuff.
So you're just in the background
holding a bit of fence, for three days.
It's a very weird job.
It's like, "You wanna be an actor?
Oh great, what are you gonna do?
Hold a bit of fence for three days."
First time you realized you wanted to pursue acting."
My snobby response to this is Panic In Needle Park.
And although that is true,
that's what made me want to be an actor.
Like Al Pacino is (beep) amazing in that movie.
The truth is it's probably Tim Curry
in Muppets Treasure Island.
That's the truth.
I was like, "I wanna be a pirate!"
And my mom was like, "You can't be a pirate."
So I was like, "Okay, so what is that then?"
"Well that's an actor, playing a pirate."
I said, "Well, then I wanna be an actor."
First incorrect rumor you read about yourself.
I mean dating rumors are funny.
There are so many dating rumors.
Yeah, I like finding out who I've dated, that's fun.
I'm like, "Oh, I don't remember that.
I don't remember dating Eva Longoria."
That's not a real thing.
First TV show you binge-watched.
The first show I binge-watched was Black Adder.
That's a UK comedy.
So I binge watched that
and I binge watched Red Dwarf, another UK comedy.
Yeah, we do it at Christmas time.
See back in the day guys,
we used to binge watch around Christmas.
It was a time of the year where everyone
stopped doing what they were doing,
and just watched television.
And now that time is all year round.
My first acting credit.
This movie called The Gwen Araujo Story,
which was directed by Agnieszka Holland,
who directed Europa Europa.
It's an intense movie about the death of a trans woman.
I was like the younger brother.
Because I've done a bunch of commercials up until that point
it was fun to act in scenes and do real acting.
So that was an interesting experience for me.
First red carpet event.
Man, when you're on Disney and Nickelodeon,
those first carpet events, its so hard to keep track.
I think it was like some Knotts Scary Farm
Kids Choice Variety Power Of Youth something.
I don't know, I have no idea.
I honestly was just going to stuff
because my friends were going and I was like,
"I wanna hang out with my friends."
I'd never have any idea where I was at.
I still don't, where are we?
So my book Mixed Feelings is out,
anywhere you can buy books.
It's basically just an exploration of my racial background
and what it is to be a mixed race person.
So check it out.
(upbeat music)