When Angelique Bates was a teen-ager, she had an audience few can match.
Bates is an original cast member of the hit Nickelodeon show All That. She was one of the seven main cast members in seasons 1 and 2 (from 1994 to 1996). All That was a children’s sketch comedy show that lasted for 10 seasons. It has often been called the kids’ version of Saturday Night Live, as Entertainment Weeklypoints out.
The mother of two children has made several appearances in television shows, movies, and music since leaving the show.
NewBostonPost interviewed Bates, now 42, via email about her time on All That, child acting, and dealing with fame. It’s below.
1. When you were on All That, it was shot in front of a live studio audience in Orlando, Florida. Is there any best/worst experience with it that stands out with filming in front of a live audience? And how does acting in front of a live audience while making a TV show compare to other projects you’ve worked on where that wasn’t the case?
I have always loved filming in front of a live audience. The love you feel and the excitement on the audience’s faces when you walk out is indescribable. No matter what you may be going through, live tapings give you a nice energy boost. Those tapings I looked more forward to, plus that is when the musical acts came.
2. What was the toughest part about being a child actor and what advice would you have for others in the industry?
The toughest part about being a child actor is remaining a child and holding on to your innocence. This industry will age you and destroy your innocence if you let it. My advice to anyone in the industry or who wants to be in the industry is:
1. Keep God first no matter what or whatever name you use.
2. Don’t let the industry change you. Stay true to yourself.
3. Everybody isn’t your friend and everybody does not have your best interest at heart despite how much love or loyalty you may have for them.
4. Protect your energy and time. Those both are non-refundable.
5. Last but not least never give up. Pick yourself up and keep going. The game doesn’t end when you fall. It ends when you quit. We all have a God-given purpose and it is on you to find that out / remember what yours is.
3. In the sketch “Cooking with Randy and Mandy,” your character (Mandy) loved chocolate. You and Kenan Thompson (Randy) both ate a lot of different foods that normally wouldn’t have chocolate on them, like cheese, sandwiches, burritos, nachos, and so on. Which was the best and which was the worst?
Unless it was real candy all of it was horrible LOL. I don’t know about Kenan but the majority of it didn’t make it past the back of my mouth.
4. You’ve probably had a ton of fan interactions over the years. Is there any one that stands out above the others?
I was at an autograph convention in Burbank my publicist Shannon booked. There was a young lady that approached me and two other cast members that were with me. She had tattoos covering her whole body from her neck all the way down. The young lady had hopped on a Greyhound bus just to see us and have us put our autographs on her body. This was something I had never been asked to do.
She had an appointment with a tattoo artist right after the convention to trace over our autographs. The young lady had multiple autographs from other well known celebrities tattooed all over her body as well.
As amazing as that was to see and experience that wasn’t what made me remember her the most. It was the reason she started collecting the autograph tattoos. She had gone through a lot of abuse and addictions, especially for her age. It was a way of her to cope with her trauma, and we helped her forget the bad in her life for those seconds. Every tattoo had its own story that the young lady told us and she was genuinely happy when telling us the stories. It was like that was the only happiness she really had.
I still think about her to this day and wonder if she fought through the darkness and made it through to the light.
5. You graduated high school at 15 years old. What was the toughest subject in your opinion and do you think it’s something that more people should pursue?
Algebra and up definitely weren’t my favorite. But when I look at all the new things the school system is trying to make these kids learn like Common Core I think I had it easy.
With all the chaos going on in the world I do recommend home school and just getting out as quick as you can. But only if you are willing to do the work. And that goes for both Parents and Child. Because if you don’t it can be very detrimental to the child’s future. You have to have your children’s back across the board.
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