By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Tribune
June 26, 2018
Born and raised in North Carolina, actress Jenn Lyon says she tries to head back home for the holidays. But when she can’t, she brings family to her.
“One year, I was doing a play in Philadelphia and couldn’t leave,” says Lyon, who is one of the stars of the TNT series, “Claws.” “So my mama came to Philly and we stomped around in the cold together. It’s a great city.”
A resident of Brooklyn, Lyon stays in touch with her fans on Twitter and Instagram.
Q. If you were to take a vacation with your “Claws” character, Jennifer Husser, do you think you’d make good travel mates?
A. We would be great travel mates, but we would have way too much of a good time, and then promptly get arrested.
Q. What was the first trip you took as a child?
A. The first trip I can remember taking was to Carolina Beach. My Me-Maw had a little three-room beach shack and we crammed six adults and five kids into it. We played on the beach, washed off with the garden hose and my Me-Maw took me secretly with her to play Bingo in smoky parlors. I loved all of it.
Q. What untapped destination should people know about?
A. I’m from the mountains of North Carolina and there are so many beautiful small towns nestled in the Blue Ridge, such as Maggie Valley. Maggie Valley is like going back in time and you can’t beat the views and they (had) an old theme park called Ghost Town in the Sky, where you ride a chairlift up to it!
Q. What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your travels?
A. I lived in Turkey for a summer when I was 21. My acting professor, Cigdem Onat, invited me to live with her. I had never been anywhere and to wander around a foreign country and meet all new people, food, adventure — set my brain on fire. I learned that I could handle things alone and that I didn’t have to make everyone comfortable. I didn’t have to be pleasing all the time. She gave me such a gift.
Q. What is your favorite vacation destination?
A. I have literally only been on two actual vacations as an adult — going to see family doesn’t count — and my man and I went to St. Martin, which was a dream. The beaches, the people, the food, everything. The last hurricane hit them so hard, so I’m not sure what the recovery is looking like. But when we were there, we ate almost every night at these different local barbecue joints called Lolo’s and stuffed ourselves with seafood and homemade salads. It tastes like food your mama would make, if your mama was a fantastically talented and slightly mean Caribbean woman.
Q. Have you traveled to a place that stood out so much that you felt compelled to incorporate it into your work?
A. I think every place I go to, especially for work, informs me. I’m always watching people interact and thinking about why a certain region or landscape makes people a certain way. Accents. I don’t take a lot of pictures. It feels like so much of the time we are trying to capture a thing instead of experience it, so I try to just memorize the way things feel and sound and then, hopefully, I can pull it back up.
Q. Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A. There is a place in upstate New York called Canajoharie that is so remote and beautiful and there are waterfalls and it’s so quiet that I have to play traffic noise on my phone to sleep at night.
Q. Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A. Everywhere! London, Paris, all of Italy, Thailand, Spain. Now that I finally have some TV money, I want to really go places.
Q. When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A. Sunscreen, eyelash extensions — you never have to wear mascara! You wake up looking done! — bug spray.
Q. What would be your dream trip?
A. Oh man, I would love to take a giant trip through Southeast Asia.
Q. What kind of research do you do before you go away on a trip?
A. I scour Airbnb and HomeAway so I can find a place that is unique and reasonably priced. I obsess over the weather report and badger my fiancé with questions he couldn’t possibly know the answer to. I look up all kinds of things to do and see, even though I mostly love lying down.
Q. What is your best and/or worst vacation memory?
A. Worst: My man and I tried to go to an all-inclusive resort last year and it was just horrible. It was like being stuck on a cruise ship that didn’t go anywhere with the loudest, drunkest people on earth. Best: The girls from “Claws” got to go to a different all-inclusive resort and it was amazing!
Q. What are your favorite hotels?
A. I was driving cross country with my friend Anna and we stayed at so many small hotels that were weird and special but our favorite was The Mizpah in Tonopah, Nevada. If you ever find yourself in Tonopah, you must stay there.
Q. What are your five favorite cities?
A. New York City, Bodrum (Turkey), Seattle, New Orleans, Waynesville.
Q. Where have you traveled to that most reminded you of home?
A. New Orleans.
Q. What are your favorite restaurants?
A. For fancy style, I would say Il Mulino in New York City. For down home, I would say Kerley’s BBQ in Lexington, N.C.
Q. What is your guilty pleasure when you’re on the road?
A. Unlimited cuss words.
© 2018 JAE-HA KIM
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