'Party' girl Lacey Chabert is a pro at 14

by Jefferson Graham

CULVER CITY, Calif. — Lacey Chabert has plenty of company in the cast of Party of Five, but she's by herself in school.
Most of the kids are older and have graduated, and the troupe's twins are in preschool.
Chabert, 14, spend half of her day here at the Sony Studios in class and the rest of the time on the set of the show, where she plays Claudia Salinger, one of the five siblings coping with life after the deaths of their parents. The series airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
Sharing a bowl of french fries at the studio cafeteria, Chabert comes off as an average teen-ager, talking about sleepovers, bowling and shopping at the mall.
But her life has been anything but ordinary.
She grew up in Purvis, Miss., began acting in a local community theater and at age 9, auditioned at an open call for Les Miserables. She found herself starring for two years in the Broadway musical as the young Cosette.
Her dad, Tony, who worked in the oil industry in Louisiana, got a job transfer, and now the whole family is together in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles.
Chabert, who speaks without a trace of a Southern accent, says she'd like to eventually open a Cajun restaurant specializing in gumbo and jambalaya, which she cooks often.
She also has her sights set on directing. "I've asked the producers of Party of Five several times to let me direct an episode," she says. "They just laughed. They said to come back after I turn 18. But I'm really serious about this."
On TV she likes to watch The X-Files ("the best show on TV") and ER, which her parents tape for her, since it's on at 10 p.m. On weekends she likes to golf, practice karate and play the violin (she plays regularly on the show).
Her favorite Party episode was the second one, when Claudia convinced her siblings to hire a detective to search for their grandfather. "It was a spunky thing to do for her. And it set the tone for my character."
She also enjoyed this season's Halloween episode, when Claudia called an exorcist to rid the family of demons. "Let's take a look at this family," she says, "First the parents die, then the kids have all these problems. They're obviously haunted!"
With such a normal home life and no tragedy in her background, how does Chabert prepare for her emotional crying scenes on Party?
I just sit in my trailer for 45 minutes to become Claudia," she says. "Other people think of dead animals or relatives. I have to become that person."