Brie Larson may be only 22, but she’s already a seasoned professional when it comes to navigating Hollywood. The actress, who co-stars alongside Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in "21 Jump Street," started doing skits on "The Tonight Show" when she was just 9 years old.
But acting isn't her only gig. Larson had a recording contract at age 13, originally as a songwriter, which resulted in her being flown around the country to collaborate with other professionals.
Larson chatted with The Huffington Post about "21 Jump Street" and her surprising TV obsession.
Were you like, "Damn those 'Hunger Games' kids. They knocked us off the top spot?"
[Laughs] No, not at all. I think we kind of all knew that was going to happen. It’s kind of just the way that life works, isn’t it? You’re on top one day and then the next week you’re not.
Were you one of those kids who didn’t know why original "21 Jump Street" star Johnny Depp appeared in the movie?
No, no. I had seen reruns before. I’d even owned the first season on DVD.
Wow, that’s embarrassing.
That’s not embarrassing! It’s an enjoyable TV program!
I’m kidding! Did you ever ask your parents why they named you after a cheese?
Well, that’s kind of a pet name that happened. My real name is Brianne, so it wasn’t as if they named me after their favorite cheese. The spelling -- I didn’t really understand until I was older that they chose to spell it the same way as the cheese, which is very confusing. But now I can’t imagine it spelled a different way. I have a sister and her name is Mimsy, like from "Alice in Wonderland," so we’ve got some strange names in our family.
So what was it like the Monday morning after "21 Jump Street" opened?
It was pretty crazy. It started with a call from Peter Bogdanovich. He’s been my hero for many years, so for that to be the beginning of this new start was pretty cool. Of course, it’s cool to get offers and get work -- that’s the goal -- but I felt like the coolest part was that it was the first time I’d done a movie that all my friends went to go and see and that they wanted to go see.
I ended up staying with some friends over the weekend in a little ranch with no phone reception, and when I left and started driving down the hill my phone sounded like it was going to explode -- it was beeping like crazy.
I was always very tentative and afraid of doing something with that sort of exposure. It’s very scary to allow the world to see you.
Isn’t that the point of being in showbiz?
I like expressing myself, but criticism is difficult. It’s really hard for me to watch myself, so it’s hard for me to imagine that other people would want to watch me. So, there’s a lot of eccentricities that go into it. But the reception has been so nice that ultimately it’s given me the confidence to know that I can keep doing this.
What’s your favorite TV show right now?
I have had the flu, so I’ve been at my parents' house and I’ve been watching a lot of "Cheaters." I love that show so much. I love the little analogies, like the last one I saw, I think he was a trash man, so they were like, "Bill is now with a new woman. He’s put his old woman in the recycling bin." Like, "Wow! Why do you have to do that? Why can’t you just use a normal word?" But I love it. The thing I’ve learned from that show is if your intuition is telling you something, you’re probably right.