Victoria Justice: Hollywood's New Teen Queen
She's got girl-next-door charm, classic good looks, and a hit show on Nickelodeon—but Victoria Justice is just getting started.
by Danielle Nussbaum
The seventeen-year-old, whom Perez Hilton anointed Teen Queen on his Web site in April, is gradually warming up to the new moniker, but she's no overnight success. She started doing commercials at eight years old, and after guest stints on Gilmore Girls and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, the actress landed a role as a series regular on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, which catapulted her into the spotlight. She has since become a proud alum: Her hit show, Victorious, in which she stars as Tori—a reluctant triple threat who ends up at a high school for the arts—has been routinely trumping Disney favorites like Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place. And it's all because of Victoria. Aside from her laundry list of talents (singing, dancing, acting, songwriting ...), her comedic timing is impeccable for someone in a non-improv show: She brings Modern Family charm to a Saved by the Bell–esque sitcom. Even when Victoria isn't on screen, she's all personality. The actress is effusive and bubbly, and her voice carries across the cavernous restaurant. "I talk loud when I'm on the phone too," she says. "It can get really obnoxious." Anyone else might be embarrassed, but Victoria addresses it with a mature, self-effacing humor. She shrugs, then grins—a shockingly dentist-pleasing, 100-watt smile that's a true rarity in the Twilight era of serious red-carpet faces and mouths set in grim lines of too-cool-for-school indifference.
For all of her willowy beauty, Victoria, who grew up in Florida before moving to Los Angeles, is quirky and awkward, and she insists that's pretty much always been the case. "I used to be such a nerd," she says. "In middle school my best friend, Audrey, and I would read chapters of Twilight together over the phone. I've never been a partier. So many girls only care about guys and looking good all the time.
"I just thought that was so boring." The actress has managed to maintain a low profile compared with the oft-documented relationship exploits of her paparazzied peers, like Demi and Selena, whom Victoria has often found herself up against at auditions over the years. "People always ask me, 'Is there a rivalry between the Nickelodeon and Disney stars? Do you guys hate each other?' Like everyone has to be on one team. If you're a Selena Gomez fan, you can't be a Victoria Justice fan. We're both half-Latin, and people put us in the same category," she says, sighing.
Instead, Victoria is forging her own path. She has never hung out with a Jonas brother (although Joe and Nick have both followed her on Twitter), is rumored to have dated The Kids Are All Right's Josh Hutcherson, and has recently been spotted around London with British actor Nicholas Hoult. "I'm a guy's girl. In this industry, it's hard to find a solid girl friend," Victoria says. "I'd love to have tons, though. I'd kill for it!"
Teenvogue.com