Lost In Space star Lacy Chabert - April 7, 1998

Party of Five fans have watched her grow up before their eyes as the violin-playing Claudia Salinger who at 14, in the show's fourth season, has turned increasingly sullen & rebellious. Before that she played the young Cossette in the Broadway production of the classic Les Miserable. Now Lacey Chabert—a veteran television and stage perfomer and arguably one of the finest young actresses of her generation—makes her feature film debut playing Penny Robinson in New Line Cinema's "Lost In Space."
"When I got the part and I heard I would be working with Gary Oldman and William Hurt and such an amazing cast, I was in shock," says Lacey. "At first it was intimidating and scary, because the whole action element was really unfamiliar to me with planets exploding, spiders, Green Screen effects and everyone screaming, but they were all so great and made me feel really comfortable."

PEOPLE Online: All RIGHT! Everybody!! Lacey's HERE!!! LACEY CHABERT, star of Lost In Space and Party of Five!!!!
BackstreetGirl_2: Which character was harder for you to play, Claudia or Penny Robinson?
Lacey Chabert: Lemme think. Both the characters are at this place right now of insecurity, and not at their peak of full confidence. I'd have to say Penny was further from own personal character than Claudia, altho I'm not really like either of them. I had to pull, for Penny, from a place I hadn't had to before.
TreMetal: How do you feel about LIS beating out Titanic in the Box-office polls?
Lacey Chabert: I was a big fan of "Titanic"—Leonardo DiCaprio! It was exciting to see the film do so well for so long—but it was exciting seeing that Lost In Space got such a great response too! Next question please.
Ben_Tief: On set, which scene of "Lost in Space" was your favorite? ..and why?
Lacey Chabert: My favorite scene in LIS was when I got to hang upside down. Penny has to hang upside down outside of the spaceship and they dropped me on a harness about 25 feet upside down—very fast! That was the most fun scene in LIS.
M00MAN25: Lacey you are an excellent actresss and multi-talented as you have shown us many times and i was wondering how did you get that big break? And also is your character Claudia maybe have a bad streak on the show ?
Lacey Chabert: Thank you very much! Claudia is at this place right now in her life where she's very insecure and the tragic things that surround her definitely don't help. She needs something good to happen for her!
Tsunami_10: Lacey, what is the coolest thing about being famous? ? ?
Lacey Chabert: Well, I don't think of myself as a celebrity or anything That's definitely one of the hard things about it. I want people to think of me as ME. I think because your image is out there so much, you have an opportunity to make an impression on people. My parents always told me, "You leave an influence on everybody you come in contact with." and I hope that I'm able to leave a positive influence on everybody.
Cyber_Panda: Have you been approached yet about doing a sequel? Great job as Penny, by the way (from a fan of the original).
Lacey Chabert: Thank you!! Actually we're all signed on for 2 more sequels That came along with the first one.
PoRnsTarBaBe: Hey Lacey, so what do you do on spare time?
Lacey Chabert: I'm a typical girl. I love to shop—shoe shopping especially. I enjoy playing golf with my brother and my dad—mostly becasuse I get to drive the cart. They make good driving lessons. And I won't tell you what my handicap is because I'm really, really bad—but it's fun!
Blarbguest_19a041572: How did you like shifting your acting gears by portraying a sweet character on Party Of Five, to playing a rebel in Lost In Space?
Lacey Chabert: I've been wanting to do a film for a while, and it was really important to me that I found something different than Claudia. I think, being on the show as long as I have been, it's easy to be typecast as that role. So I wanted to do something different that people didn't necessarily expect me to do. And I think everyone has a sort of rebellious streak inside themselves, whether they've actually found it or not. So I just had to find mine!
Ddd_doobeydoobeydoo: what were working with all of that hi-tech stuff like?
Lacey Chabert: The special effects were definitely the most challenging part. As an actress, you bring your character to the scene and you really depend on the other character to make the scene click so when you don't HAVE that other character or those other things to act off of, you end up portraying both in a way.
Alexinita: When you were filming the movie Lost in Space, what was it like working with Matt La Blanc
Lacey Chabert: [laughs] He's definitely not hard to look at! Matt was a sweetie. And I was a Friends fan so it was exciting to meet him and to see that he was a pretty down-to-earth person.
Meve_X_: Are you on the computer a lot???
Lacey Chabert: I do have a computer—and it's an accomplishment when I can turn it on! I have a lot of problems with my computer and I'm not the most computer-savvy person in the world. But there's so much to do on them!
Amber_18_98: I heard you were doing th rosie o donelle show when will that eposode air?
Lacey Chabert: I'm doing it tomorrow—it's live!
Northguest_31a0189: I read that you are an avid golfer. What is your handicap? Or what do you typically shoot on 18 holes?
Lacey Chabert: I'm NOT even going to go there! [laughs] Let's just say I do it for fun.
LuvLee_1: Do you help out any charities now that you are famous, if so why did you choose them?
Lacey Chabert: I do a lot of work with Pediatric AIDS and anything that has to do with children. I hope that through what I'm doing I can help support the organizations. It's very very important to me.
LeoLover1398: Whats your favorite movie???
Lacey Chabert: I have lots of favorites... I loved Good Will Hunting. Jerry Maguire. The Bridges of Madson County! I loved that.
Acidman77: Which do you like to do best? Movies or TV Shows? (from a new fan)
Lacey Chabert: They're very different. They're different fields of acting. They all sort of have something that you want to get out of it, something that you want to achieve from it and their own special moments—so it's hard to compare. I have two more years of Po5 and I enjoy the summer so much that hopefully I can do films while I'm doing Po5—and then move on to films.
CWD_aka_ROBIIINNNNN: Are you into sports at all? Like the NHL, NBA etc??
Lacey Chabert: Let's skip that question! [laughs]
Awesomedude: Have you ever thought about hosting the first teenage talk show?
Lacey Chabert: [laughs] These are pretty original questions! And that's an interesting idea! The other day I presented an award at the Kids Choice Awards. I think it's important that kids have a voice in things.
Baloo10: How did you get your big break? Also What advice would you give a young person who would like to start acting
Lacey Chabert: The first think I did was I auditioned for StarSearch—Ed MacMahon's StarSearch. It was a fluke altogether . It was really my older sister who was auditioning and I just went along for the ride and I ended up getting on and she didn't. And that was really my first introduction to this—it was sort of an accident and I loved it. Advice? It's a lot of work and dedication. So you HAVE to love it.
Chadaaron: Dear Lacey are you interested in independent films at all?
Lacey Chabert: I want to do another film this summer and I've read a LOT of scripts and haven't found anything I really liked so now am looking at all independent films. By reading all of these scripts, I'm finding that sometimes the independent ones are the most authentic and true to real life.
Agweofthewaves: How does your family feel about your acting career?
Lacey Chabert: I've said this before—but I'm still Lacey to my family. There's no special treatment. They're very, very supportive and excited for me but I have other things that are important to me too. They really keep me grounded.
JeffAltman: Whos your favorite actress???
Lacey Chabert: I'm a big fan of Jodie Foster's. Contact—that's another one of my favorite movies!! I think everything that she does is very realistic and she definitely makes smart choices. And I love Claire Danes. I don't know much about her personally—but I also think that SHE makes good choices. Everything she does seems to be very dignified and well-considered. It's exciting that someone so young has achieved so much.
Slinky21497: are you religious?
Lacey Chabert: Yes, I am a Christian. Jesus is the center of my life and I give God the glory for everything, for all my success.
Gumby26: What kind of music do you listen to?
Lacey Chabert: I like a lot of different sutff. Because I was in Les Mis, I like show tunes. I'm into the more pop alternative, I like Lisa Loeb and some of Savage Garden's stuff. A lot of different things—a big variety.
Amielrod: what other characters and roles would u like to play in the future?
Lacey Chabert: I'm always looking for something that's challenging. For me challenging is probably something that's farthest from yourself.
Mrbrown1602: do you have any bad habits?
Lacey Chabert: [laughs] Bad habits?? I bite my nails.
MR_HANKEY123: Who is your favorite character in Lost in Space
Lacey Chabert: You know what I liked about LIS? That the characters are very different from each other and there's a quality that you like about each of them. It would be VERY MEAN OF ME to pinpoint any one character so I'll leave it at that!
Deadsoul19: Honestly do u miss the old days when you were one of us...when no one bothered u???
Lacey Chabert: I still am "one of you" Sometimes it's hard—because of what I do. People put you in this "star" category. I don't really believe in stars. Stars are in the sky.
GreenGaint: Do you plan on going to college or do you see yourself continuing on in the entertainment field and if so do you see yourself branching out into other areas?
Lacey Chabert: Well I'm only a freshman so I haven't thought about where or anything but I DO want to go to college. I'd like to study directing at a film school. I asked to direct an episode of Party of Five—and they all sort of just laughed.
Patiff: Who would be your dream Co-Star????
Lacey Chabert: Well it depends... The teenage side of me is saying... LEONARDO DICAPRIO!!!!!!! The more mature side of me is saying Jodie Foster.
Prime_meridian_1: What kind of food do the serve on a movie set?
Lacey Chabert: We have the commissary. It's on the lot where we shoot. and it's pretty typical—anything from hamburgers to pasta to salads...
People_chat3: here's a comment that expresses what a number of people feel about your directing aspirations...
Ripper32: Lacey, go for it!!! If you got a good idea for the show..explain your ideas and see if they like it..It could be your start for a awesome directing career!!
Lacey Chabert: [laughs] You know I have a great opportunity on the show day after day from observing other people working on the show, from watching them edit the shows, to going to writers' meetings to actually observing the director himself. And I'm trying to take it all in while I'm there.
SmArTiEs123: If you had one wish, what would it be?
Lacey Chabert: Wow! That's a BIG question!!! Let me think for a second... Probably that there's so many things that I want to do, from helping charities to helping people, just helping people and I really do wish that by doing something that I am truly passionate about—acting—that I CAN accomplish these things. I have family member who has a form of muscular dystrophy and I hope some day I can open a foundation that can fight for a cure.
People_host: Lacey Chabert, thanks for being with us tonight.
Lacey Chabert: Thank you! This was a lot of fun—I really enjoyed myself. Thanks to everyone who took the time to talk with me. Good night.
People_host: And good luck with Lost in Space, Party of Five and all your other endeavors. To everyone in the audience—thanks for stopping by this evening...and thanks to everyone in our audience for all your great questions.