With comedy series Squatters about to launch new episodes on November 1st, DCTV creator Daryn Strauss chatted with the female component of its success, actress/producer Cooper Harris about vegetarianism, disappearing southern accents, and why you shouldn’t wear heels during a meteor apocalypse.
DARYN: Did you always know you wanted to be an actress?
COOPER: No. Growing up, I wanted to be a spy! Then an archaeologist. And then an ice-skating violinist. Meanwhile, I was touring around the southeast with an award-winning theatre ensemble. Finally, at the ripe age of 12, I realized if I just kept acting, I could do ALL of those things and more for a career. I guess I’ve known I wanted to be an actor for almost half my life!
DARYN: Did acting come naturally for you?
COOPER: It did… Yeah, my mom is a playwright and theater director, so I grew up on stage. As I said, I toured with a theatre troupe from the age of 12. I also went to a really imagination-based private school — no joke, we learned about fairies & gnomes! Plus I grew up with all these cool pets: sheep, goats, rabbits, and burros, and living in 200+ year-old farm houses… that’s a LOT of imaginative fodder! My brother and I were constantly acting out make believe stories — it didn’t take much to channel that into the constructs of the scripts I was given. Then I was accepted to the famous North Carolina School of the Arts conservatory for high school, so I learned my craft there.
DARYN: I read that you are a life-long vegetarian. Is that true? Were your parents vegetarian?
COOPER: Yep! I am. My parents were vegetarian… I think their reasons were ethical. I chose to stay vegetarian because it’s the #1 best thing you can do for the environment. Crazy, right!!? Most people don’t know that the meat industry pollutes more than all forms of transportation combined — all cars and trucks and airplanes and ocean liners together!
[Cooper's Fun fact: The UN came up with a great stat - Americans can do MORE for the environment by giving up ONE meal with chicken every week than by buying a Prius. Hey, so it's cheaper and better than buying a car!]
DARYN: You are one of the many people I know from the South who does not have an accent. Does your accent come out when you go home?
COOPER: HOW did you know!?! Yeah for sure — it totally comes out a little when I’m home, or talkin’ to my mama on the phone … or drunk! I studied ‘Accents & Dialects’ in the drama program at the North Carolina School of the Arts for four years. They beat our accents out of us! We had to learn IPA [International Phonetic Alphabet used by singers & speech pathologists] so we could learn all other accents and language more accurately and quickly. They’re hard core down there!
Brendan Bradley and Cooper Harris in Squatters
DARYN: Congratulations on all of the success with Squatters, which is Daily Motion’s most watched original web series! You seem to work all the time as an actress, but have you ever had to do an odd job or crash at a friend’s house to make ends meet?
COOPER: Thanks! It is exciting how much attention Squatters is getting — we just got a write up in Backstage this week! Thusfar, I’ve been really lucky and have only done acting, work-wise. But hmmmm… Similar to the guys in Squatters, I really do identify with having to find creative places to crash! I moved out here [Los Angeles] with a week’s notice, knowing almost no one. I called a co-star of mine from NY and asked if I could stay with his parents in LA, whom I’d never even met! I ended up staying with friends of friends for a good two months before I got a real apartment!
DARYN: When did you come on board with Squatters? Did you come on as a producer first or actress first?
COOPER: Well, funny story — Brendan [Bradley] and I had already co-created, produced, and starred in multiple award-winning online commercial campaigns for companies like Post-It Notes, Kimberly Clark, & Krazy Glue, so we were on a roll and decided the next step was narrative work! We went from making money to create spots to basically paying money to make Squatters. But yeah, it was natural that we’d produce it together. We’d been creating content that was making money, and when Brendan came up with this great episodic idea, I said, “Let’s do it! … as long as I’m in it.” In all fairness, I’m sure that if I’d approached him with my own idea, he would have been equally supportive and we’d have made Squattettes.
DARYN: In the web series community, there are so many actresses that are also producers! Why do you think that is?
COOPER: Well, I think most actresses (and actors as well) want to always be working! I do! So, in our free time between gigs, we can try our hand at making our own work … and the web is a great platform for that!
DARYN: You are LA-based, along with most of the Squatters cast, but you shot the show in NYC. Was that difficult to coordinate?
COOPER: It was crazy! We actually shot the pilot and most exteriors plus my character’s [Julie] scenes last summer in New York. But a lot of the show, even though it takes place in NY, is actually shot in LA. That’s because a lot of our TV cast like Ryan Sypek (ABC Wildfire), Matt Moy (Scrubs), and Steffany Huckaby (Greek) are all here in LA. We even shot some scenes in North Carolina! Brendan and I put off our own scenes in favor of getting everyone else so we had to shoot some scenes while we were visiting our families over Christmas!
[Cooper's Fun Fact: When Squatters begins airing again in November-- there is a cameo from my mama's 35 lb, North Carolinian cat.]
DARYN: One of the cool little tidbits I learned about you is that you play the violin and fiddle. Do you still make time to play?
COOPER: I do! I love it… In my slower months I always say I’m gonna audition to be an alternate with the LA Phil, but inevitably I book another project right before I can. I do fiddle though. I have a kick ass electric fiddle! I’m working on a story right now about that.
SyFy Network's Meteor Apocalypse
DARYN: And you are a Syfy Network queen! You’ve fought apocalypses and more giant animal strains than I even knew were possible! What’s it like acting with so many special effects?
COOPER: Oh, it’s super fun! Meteor Apocalypse, which was SyFy’s more serious action/thriller, was hilarious… I mean… that came out wrong! It wasn’t hilarious! Rather it was amusing and fun because I’m running through the desert– in high heeled boots, mind you!– dodging imaginary meteors with Sully from Dr. Quinn! We had to get audio cues so that we would react at the same time. Mega Shark I seriously did super last-minute. I got called the night before. I had no idea about the genre, and so I played it straight, you know, and tried to do a really good job. I still get joshed about that.
DARYN: A scifi web series in your future perhaps?
COOPER: Funny you should mention that… I JUST read an excellent script in the genre… Don’t know if I have time right now, but I really want to do it! Also, I’m attached to a sci-fi/super-hero web project that is currently negotiating with sponsors.
DARYN: What do you have coming up?
COOPER: I just wrapped a really exciting romantic comedy– I play the title character opposite Josh Sussman (Glee), and Lochlyn Munro (Dead Man on Campus). It’s one of those glorious situations as an actor because the film already had distribution and a potential theatrical.
[Cooper's Fun fact: Brendan Bradley from Squatters also stars-- beautifully, I might add-- as my boyfriend in this film, which is really fun and ironic. I'm super stoked! I can't really go into the story, but will say this: the gown I wear down the carpet in the last scene is worth $50,000!!!]
COOPER: My action film Serious Rogers is also coming out soon. I’m also starring in and producing a short with two actors from Detroit 187 and True Blood. Oh, and I just booked a horror film in Shreveport, Louisiana!
Look out for new Squatters episodes on Daily Motion every Monday starting November 1st. In the meantime, check out the entire first season at www.squatterstheseries.com or watch Cooper make her first appearance in Episode 3 below.
