Los Angeles Times - 09.11.2019

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HOT PROPERTY LOS ANGELES TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2019 WSCE

MY FAVORITE ROOM

When actress Landry Bender
and her parents moved recently
from mid-city to Playa Vista “to
take advantage of the beach more,”
she quickly shut down one part of
the plan.
Amy and Trey Bender (both
sportscasters) wanted to give their
daughter more space within the
1,300-square-foot townhouse by
tearing out her bedroom’s built-in
bookcase.
“I was like, ‘No, this is the best
part of the whole room!’ I’ve been
wanting something like this for a
while to display all my mementos,
coffee table books and knick-
knacks,” said Bender, 19, who stars
in Hulu’s “Looking for Alaska,”
which premiered last month.
Numerous items celebrate
Bender’s favorite icon, Audrey
Hepburn, including a coffee table
book and a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
lunchbox, which were both gifts.
“I love her. She’s been an obses-
sion of mine for a while,” Bender
said.
Bottles of Marc Jacobs’ “Daisy”
perfume and a copy of “It” by Alexa
Chung are among the many fash-
ion-inspired items, and a collection
of Vogue, Teen Vogue and Elle
magazines takes up an entire shelf.
There’s also a section dedicated
to Broadway including books on
“Hamilton” and its creator, Lin-
Manuel Miranda (“a big inspira-
tion” to Bender); a replica of Mary
Poppins’ peacock umbrella; and a
binder of Playbills from all the

shows she’s seen.

“I started doing community

theater when I was 5 because I saw

a play with my mom and I asked if I

could try that too,” Bender said. “I

wasn’t too good at sports, so luckily

I found my outlet when I was really

young.”

A copy of the book “Looking for

Alaska,” personalized by author

John Green, is an “amazing prized

possession” because she grew up

reading his books.

Why is your bedroom your favor-

ite room?

I love having my alone time

reading, writing and watching

shows. I am always really at peace

having my “me time” here.

Cute photos; why are they spe-

cial?

This is from the other day at

the premiere of “Looking for

Alaska” — it’s a photo of me and

the girls on the show posing in

front of a replica of the phone

booth from the show. We were

having this deep conversation

about how amazing the shoot was

and how much we bonded. And

there’s one of me and my two

childhood best friends who I’m

still super-close with. I just fin-

ished a community theater show

and had little whiskers because I

was playing a cat. They’re equally

passionate about sports as I am

with acting. We all kind of bond

over that even though we’re all so

different.

Tell me about the framed photo

of you and Betty White.

I have a short list of people I

want to either work with or meet,

and she was on there. I was work-

ing on a pilot when I was 14 and

was gushing about her to a bunch

of people, and the assistant direc-

tor was like, “Landry, I work on

‘Hot in Cleveland’ with her, why

don’t you come to a taping?” So I

went and got a photo with Betty;

she was a sweetheart. She had

been working all day but was

cracking jokes and was so great.

What else do you do in here be-

sides sleep?

I watch a lot of shows; it’s the

best way to wind down. I spend a

lot of time on my computer,

whether it’s reading or writing

scripts, which I am trying to get

my foot into. I’m taking my general

college classes online at Santa

Monica City College, so I do home-

work for philosophy and things

like that. It’s a lot to balance, but

I’m trying.

Nice guitars and ukulele; what do

you like to play?

I really love taking songs and

making them acoustic and folksy. I

sing but I don’t consider myself a

singer; I just love doing it in my

room. When I was on location in

Louisiana for “Looking for

Alaska,” I took them with me. I

was living alone for the first time,

which was hard at first. Having

instruments in the apartment

made me feel super at home.

Looking

for her

own

space

Young actress savors her

alone time amid acting,

writing and schoolwork.

By Arielle Paul

“ME TIME”is essential to actress Landry Bender, who retreats to her bedroom in the Playa Vista home she shares with her parents.

Photographs by Myung J. ChunLos Angeles Times

A CHERISHED memento is a photo with legend Betty White.