At 17, Emily Osment says she loves acting and music and wants to do both 'forever.' But she also wants to go to college.
WHO
As Lilly Truscott/Lola Luftnagle on Disney's Hannah Montana, Emily Osment plays sidekick to BFF Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus). As Gerti Giggles in the second and third Spy Kids movies, she battles mad scientists and evil video game characters (respectively) to help save the day. As little sister to Haley Joel, she no doubt grew up with ubiquitous I see dead people references. Osment, 17, sings too. She's about to hit the road for a four-city Canadian tour to promote her debut EP, All The Right Wrongs.
BREAKOUT
Osment was 13 and already a Spy Kid when she auditioned for the role of Lilly, but Disney made her jump through hoops to ensure she was right for the part. Four callbacks later, she got the job that has made her a tween sensation. How has it changed her life? "It's made me a lot busier, that's for sure," she said during a telephone interview - while doing laundry - at her L.A. home.
TUNELIGHTING
When Osment decided that on top of acting, she wanted to record an album and write (or at least co-write) her own material, she hauled out a giant binder of songs she'd jotted down over the years. They included things she wrote when she was very young "about really lame things like trees." But her subject matter progressed to the stuff of teen angst with titles like Average Girl (as if) and I Hate the Homecoming Queen.
TRUE FRIEND
Despite spending long days on set with pop sensation Miley Cyrus (and dad Billy Ray), Osment says she didn't ask them for any advice before embarking on her own musical career. In fact, she didn't even tell them what she was up to. "I never talked to [Miley]about it, I never talked to anybody on Hannah Montana. I kept it to myself," she says. "I want this to be purely me ... I want to make this road my own."
To prepare for going out on the road, she went to concerts - including shows by John Mayer and Jewel - and studied the musicians' interaction with the audience.
IF YOU GO
And you're older than, say, 16, take a deep breath and consider earplugs. This high energy brand of pop/rock and even punk (imagine a Disneyfied Avril Lavigne) is clearly meant for Osment's fan base - teenage ears. Reluctant moms (and other chaperones) can expect to be surrounded by young, screaming girls who are just, like, oh my God, so excited about seeing Lilly Truscott in the flesh. (However Osment is also promising to test out some new material which she says has a more mature sound.)
BIG PLANS
Osment is going to college next year - majoring in English or Psychology, she thinks. But she's not giving up her day job(s). She says she will stick with Hannah Montana to the end and will also continue to make music. "I plan on making a second, third, fifth, 100th record. ... I love music and I love acting and I want to do it forever."
Emily Osment (with Jesse Labelle) plays the Bell Performing Arts Centre in Surrey, B.C., Thursday night, the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga on Jan. 9, the Empire Theatre in Belleville, Ont., on Jan. 10 and Centrepointe Theatre in Ottawa on Jan. 11.
Marsha Lederman