Los Angeles can be a dream. It can be a goal, a highway for a young girl from Georgia with a passion for acting and the voice of an angel.
Los Angeles can be magical and it can be breathtakingly beautiful, especially on a warm day near Santa Monica. Here life seems quite perfect; the sun, the colors, the sand, and the wind.
The only thing that could make it better? Well, music. And we certainly know someone who perfectly embodies the spirit of the city: just with her guitar and the songs she writes, Skyler Day took us into a very special place in the middle of the city, thanks to her voice and the smile and her sweetness. Skyler starred as Amy in “Parenthood,” a show which she loves to this day and which she defined as a freeing experience, and as Claire in the teenage drama “Pretty Little Liars,” and we can’t wait to see what stories (both through songwriting and slipping into the shoes of amazing characters) she’ll bring us.
From Skyler’s background in gymnastics and her strong will that brought her from Georgia to California to her bond with her twin brother Dalton and the songs she writes for her friends and her husband, Ian, we discovered something more about her personality, dreams, and roots.
And it’s been a little talk that couldn’t but move us, and steal a smile on the acoustic notes of “Easier Said.”
___________
How did everything start for you?
___________
My mom and dad had a gymnastic training center back in Georgia, and they started it before we were born — me, my twin brother and my sister Savannah. And we all did gymnastic: we were born and bred to be gymnasts. I did gymnastics for a while, and then I did a school play called “The Little Christmas Tree” when I was six years old. That was the first time I did acting, singing or anything like that. And I think that, after that moment, I was like, “Ok, this is it, this is a blast!” I loved being in front of people performing, and that was my first taste of it. It was a really small taste, but it was my first, and from there I got into acting classes and singing lessons, and then I moved on to doing commercials and voiceovers.
I met an agent, after that. I was in line at the DMV, my mum was having her license renewed or something like that, like paying a parking ticket or for whatever reason, and I started singing at the woman beside me! Just because I was bored, you know. And then she told my mum that I should get an agent. My mum was like, “I don’t know what that means!” But I heard the woman, and so I got an agent and, when I was 10 years old, I said I wanted to start doing TV and I got myself a theatrical agent. Then I made a goal: I told my parents I wanted to be in LA, in order to pursue my dreams of being an actress and a singer. I needed to be here, of course. And at this point, they said, “ok, crazy girl.” But to move here I had to book the lead in a film by the time I was 11, then we could move to California in order to pursue my dreams: and my parents said yes. And so I booked a lead, two weeks after I turned 11 technically, but I had the role before so I was true to my promise. And we moved there two years later. That was my first film role, and it was the greatest experience I’ve ever had. I loved it. So from then on, I was like, “I’m done. This is what I’ll be doing for the rest of time.” My twin brother Dalton started writing but also he’s been an incredible musician, songwriter, singer, and guitarist for a really long time. His first EP just came out in June.
I did some vocals for it, and I got to hear a bunch of it, and that’s amazing: he’s just so good.
“I wanted to be in LA, in order to pursue my dreams.”
___________
How do you influence each other?
___________
Funnily enough, musically-wise I don’t think I would be where I am without my brother. Because he started playing guitar and we picked it up at the same time. He’s incredible, he plays like nobody I know, and that’s when I really started learning. Because we like to do the same things and him being so good at playing guitar motivated me to be able to do so too, and we started performing together and playing together. And we still do, every now and then. I think he still influences me a lot.
I wrote one of my first songs with him.
___________
Have you ever thought about writing or directing, maybe together?
___________
We write music together, of course, all the time. Not really about directing together, but I’ve definitely thought about directing something in the future. One day I will do it, for sure.
At this point, I haven’t really gotten there yet; I’m still in the acting phase. If I could direct, I would love to direct some really, really good female friends-centered comedy. You know, I have this dream of having a really great female-focused dramedy, a friendship comedy. That would be really fun and I think you don’t really see it depicted in a real way a lot, and I have such great female friends in my life, and I always want to see that in films and television. I think I would really love to direct something like that and depict friendship in a real, gritty way.
“If I could direct, I would love to direct some really, really good female friends-centered comedy.”
___________
What’s the song you’re proudest of?
___________
It’s a tie between two.
“Los Angeles,” because it took me six years to finish. I started it when I was eighteen when I was going through some really rough stuff, and I couldn’t finish it because I was too close to the situation. It’s kind of like when they say that you can’t see the whole picture if you’re too close and you’re only able to see one color.
And the other song is the song that I wrote for my now husband; we got married in September. And that’s “Ian’s Song.
”
LOS
ANGELES
IAN’S
SONG
___________
Do you have a songwriter you’re inspired by?
___________
I love Carole King. I love the late ‘60s and early 70s Laurel Canyon singer/songwriters era, like Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan obviously. I feel like everybody would say Bob Dylan, but that’s just because he’s so brilliant: his song “Don’t Think Twice” is probably one of my favorite songs.
___________
What’s on your playlist?
___________
It swings from things like that, like Carole King and Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, to Dua Lipa. I really love her; I’m kind of obsessed with her, she’s a badass. And I love Country Music, probably because I’m from Georgia and that’s how I started. Country music is how I started writing: I fell in love with the songwriting aspect of Country music and its storytelling. And I proceeded with getting into more pop music, but Country is the beginning of it.
C A L I F O R N I A
___________
You also starred in a lot of TV shows. What was the most surprising experience for you?
___________
Surprising? It was probably “Law&Order SVU” because that one surprised me twice: they offered a role in a show when I had never been offered anything before, at that point, which was so cool. And I remember getting the offer and not knowing what the role was and just being like, “yes! I don’t know what it is and I don’t care!”
And then getting home I realized it was a really, really great, gritty role, and I was terrified because I hadn’t auditioned for it. And I asked myself, “how do they know I can do this?”
Then I ended up with the same show getting a call from them again, I think it was a year later, and they asked me to come back — which just doesn’t happen, especially with procedurals. They don’t randomly bring a character back. That’s the only time it ever happened to me, to get this kind of thing.
___________
Do you have a favorite show you’ve starred in?
___________
My favorite show will always be “Parenthood;” that one was just a dream. It was a dream cast, a dream role, and a dream crew. I loved that. And my favorite part of it was that the whole set experience was amazing: we had the script, but they were really lenient about us bringing our own thing to it. It was a really freeing experience, and I don’t even know if I will ever have that kind of feeling in a show again. It was just amazing.
“It was a really freeing experience…”
___________
And how was the experience in “Pretty Little Liars”?
___________
Oh, yes! “Pretty Little Liars” was awesome. That one was a surprise, just because I knew that so many people were obsessed with that show. It was really fun. The funniest thing about the whole experience where the fans of that show and their theories. They would send me theories on how my character was involved, and somehow she was A, the main antagonist. And I knew nothing, I literally knew only the pages that I had even on my second episode. They’re very, very secretive; you don’t even get to sat your screen down on the set: you had your script and then if you sat it down it was picked up and held.
___________
How do you look for inspiration when your acting or songwriting?
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Inspiration is all around you, all the time. I try to be aware of my surroundings and the people around me. People are so inspiring! Just sitting here, in this restaurant, you can look around, see people and be curious about their stories. You can find so many little nuances in people that you don’t know, and so I find inspiration in everyone around me, but also in my family and friends and my own experiences, everything like that. With acting it depends from the character, but I try to draw from my own life or from someone that I know that experienced something similar so that I can be empathetic with the character’s story and know how to tell it. But what’s so cool about acting and music is that they are very similar and it’s not just telling a story: you’re trying to shed some light on how somebody’s feeling and how you’re feeling. I love slipping into somebody else’s shoes.
“I love slipping
into
somebody else’s shoes.”
“I find inspiration
in everyone around me.”
___________
What’s your dream project?
___________
Oh my god! I don’t know; there are so many.
Acting-wise, I feel like it changes constantly, but I also feel it changes whenever I’m watching a new show. I’m currently obsessed with “Homeland,” so if I could be Carrie Mathison, Claire Danes‘ character, it would be amazing. I saw her at the Sundance Film Festival, and she’s amazing. I would love to play a role like the one she plays: what’s great is that it’s an action-packed show, but she also has this really messed up personal life. It’s a very rich thing for an actor, to be able to dive into this kind of character and not a character that’s just one dimensional.
___________
What’s next for Skyler?
___________
I am producing a new music video for “Easier Said,” and I don’t know still when it will be out. I am also in the midst of writing some new songs, and I hope to have my new album written by the end of the year and start working on it at the beginning of next year. And then I would love to have a full-length album because I ’ve only ever done EPs so I would love to have that and to tour. It’s all in my future; I just don’t know how close. But I would love to be working on a show, so that’s the dream, that’s what I’m working towards.
Now, A Little Game!
For each title of your songs, say the first word that pops in your mind.
“Los Angeles:”
Beach.
.
.
.
“Not Tonight:”
My old bedroom.
“Easier Said:”
My producer, Steve Solomon.
.
.
.
“Ian’s Song:”
New York .
“Same Blood:”
Hardships .
.
.
.
“Her:”
Ian, my husband.
“Make Your Move:”
Parties and fun. Get ready, get it done!
Photos and Video by @Johnnycarrano
