Lotz To Be Excited About

“I think I always knew my body was made to be active,” says Caity Lotz, explaining her lifelong love of sport and dancing. “Even when I was a little kid I had a six-pack! I picked up movement easily. I always understood my body and wanted to push its potential.”

At 25 the California starlet can sing, dance and act. Plus, with some serious martial art skills, she could easily kick your ass.
Landing her first professional dancing gig at 17, Lotz appeared in a music video for Jojo’s ‘Baby It’s You.’ In 2005 she joined girl group Soccx as a singer. Though the Pussycat Dolls-lite band enjoyed some recognition (they were, as they say, “big in Germany”), Lotz missed dancing and decided to return to it full-time, touring with Avril Lavigne and a little someone named Lady Gaga.
“She was so inspiring in terms of performance and expression, because she’s completely legit. She’s no joke, and it’s no act. She is that crazy! In an insane, talented way. And she’s so committed, she wanted to learn every dance and had real input into the performance. I was about 21 at the time, still quite young. I found her very intimidating, I wasn’t running up to her asking to hang out or anything!”
Having reached the top in professional dance, Lotz grew restless and decided to try something new; acting. And yet again, being the disgusting over-achiever that she is, she struck gold, landing the role of Anna Draper’s niece Stephanie on the critically acclaimed drama Mad Men.
“I got lucky, that was my first chance to act. I’d appeared in Bring It On: All Or Nothing but had never had a proper part in anything. And being picked for such a prestigious, well-respected show instantly validates you. If Matt Weiner thinks you’re good and puts you on, then everyone else believes him! So it instantly opened so many doors and led me in the right direction in terms of the projects I wanted to be involved with. I mean, so many actors who are huge, now cringe looking back on their first acting gigs. I couldn’t be prouder.”
Even with these serious acting credentials under her belt, Lotz was still an outside bet to land the lead in Nicholas McCarthy’s horror The Pact.
“When I first read the script, Annie was described as this dark-haired Goth-type character, definitely more Girl With the Dragon Tattoo than my blonde, blue eyes look!”
Lotz’s experience in martial arts turned out to be a huge advantage, as it allowed her to portray both the mental and physical strength of the streetwise Annie, whose tough girl façade is put to the test as the dark truths of her abusive childhood literally begin to haunt her.
“Did you ever have that moment where someone’s fucking with you and you feel a bit threatened so you go into hard-ass, ‘Don’t mess with me’ mode? You know, when you pull that character out of you? With Annie it’s a constant thing. She feels the need to lash out all the time, because she’s scared of being hurt. She has to act tough and put a wall up to protect herself because she already has so much pain inside. So for me it was a case of drawing on and expanding that notion of self-preservation already inherent in fighting.”
Before we curl into a jealous, sobbing ball of underachieving inadequacy, Lotz finally reveals her one weakness. Though she’s trained in Taekwondo, Wushu and Muay Thai, apparently when it comes to horror films and the ghostly theme of The Pact, she’s actually a bit of a wuss.
“I don’t follow any organised religion. I’m definitely spiritual. And ghosts and stuff, I’m sure they’re probably out there and I’d rather not see them! Like if I was the kid in The Sixth Sense I would not want that power! I am not doing anything to draw any bad spirits or energy or karma into my life. The idea of messing with a Ouija board as Annie is forced to would be terrifying. I’m definitely not method-acting that stuff!”