Unlike most up-and-coming actresses, Amanda Righetti is bypassing Hollywood right now, despite the fact that she's got a new show, Reunion, premiering on Fox in September. Instead, she's splitting her time between Vancouver, where the show is filmed, and Hawaii, where her last Fox show, North Shore, was shot on location. The trappings of stardom in the show business capital, it seems, are a distraction she doesn't need.
"When you're on location it gives you more of an opportunity to focus because you're there to work," she explains, "unlike when you're living in L.A. and have other things going on."
Righetti, who is in her early 20s, got used to far-flung locations early in her career, after she struck out from her crowded family home in Las Vegas ‑- she was the youngest of eight ‑- at the age of 14. She started out modeling in Tokyo and then ended up in Los Angeles, never actually finishing high school. "There were scary moments," she says of being on her own so young. "There were no shortage of mean girls, and having to deal with the dog-eat-dog world and how men treat you, I had to take the responsibility of growing up fast. But I wouldn't give it back for the world," she affirms. "It very much prepared me for who I am today."
She didn't have to spend long in California, before Fox found her. She signed on for a pilot, No Place Like Home, by the creators of Party of Five, and then stayed close to the network family after the show didn't get picked up. She ended up with a meaty guest role on The O.C. as Hailey Nichol, Kirsten's younger sister ‑- a role she will probably continue for a few episodes even as Reunion takes off. Then Fox sent her to Hawaii for the short-lived hotel series North Shore, where she played bad girl Tessa Lewis. That's how Hawaii became her home.
Her Reunion character, Jenna, is flashy, ambitious and prone to unfortunate romantic choices. The show follows six friends (also including Sean Faris, Will Estes, Chyler Leigh, Alexa Davalos and Dave Annable) from 1986 though the present, a year at a time in each hour, as a murder mystery unfolds. At the outset, we know one of the friends is dead, and one of them is responsible, but we don't know the identity of either. The same ensemble of actors plays the characters throughout, so they get to go from unfortunate '80s fashions to modern-day casual.
The advantage of that unique format is, as cast mate Faris points out, "it's an actor's dream to be able to come in and play a role in which the character changes every episode, yet at the same time you don't feel like you're locked away for five years, playing the same thing over and over again."
For the character of Jenna, who wants to be an actress, Righetti gets to use the clothes and the atmosphere of the times to create a distinct personality.
"It's fun being able to dress up in all these crazy outfits," she says. "Right now since we're still in the '80s, it's very Madonna influenced, and Jenna has all the hip fads. It helps me find her. The loud clothes hide this self-destructiveness that Jenna has. For her, it's an attention-getter."
Listening to '80s pop, however, is less fun for this Tori Amos and Doors fan. "I liked Bronski Beat, but there's some '80s music I just can't deal with," she confides. "Whitney Houston is not my cup of tea." 