The Fresh Beat Band's Tara Perry opens up

You might know Tara Perry as Marina, the drummer from Nick Jr.'s hit show the Fresh Beat Band. But what you probably don't know is that Perry always wanted to be in show business — and moved to L.A. on her own at 19 to follow her dreams.

Nickelodeon’s Fresh Beat Band took audiences by surprise when it premiered in August 2009 on Nick Jr., delivering a fun, wholesome show that kids love — and parents don’t mind watching either. Usually. It's filled with upbeat songs and good, positive messages for young viewers.

The band is now on tour, performing live all around the United States and Canada. SheKnows recently caught up with Tara Perry, the actress who plays Marina on the Fresh Beat Band and she opened up about why she loves it, her pageant days and the tragedy that her hometown lived through.

Being a Fresh Beat

On the show, Perry's character Marina is the band’s drummer and the one who usually brings everyone back together. In real life though, Perry says sometimes she needs to be reined in some. But she does share some qualities with her character. “I think I am definitely goofy and very excited a lot. A lot of that excitement is not acting, it’s just me being excited that I get to do what I love with my life and it’s kind of incredible,” says Perry.

Perry also really does play the drums — and has been playing since she was about 11. “I asked for a drum set for Christmas after talking to my dad,” Perry says. Her dad admitted to always having wanted to play the drums, so that spurred her to try them. She took lessons for a few years as well. “I thought it was a cool thing at the bottom of my resume in my special skills section,” says Perry, who admits that she never expected to play professionally.

When the opportunity to audition for the Fresh Beat Band arose, it was a serendipitous thing that Perry fit Marina's skill set perfectly as an actress who could sing, dance and play drums. “Finally I get to use that special skill,” she laughs.

Filming the show

When the Fresh Beats are filming their show, it’s an intense schedule with rehearsals on Monday through Wednesday, long days of shooting on Thursday and Friday and recording songs on Saturday. They do many takes of each scene to capture different angles and actions. And at the end of the day? They film the song and dance numbers.

And in case you were wondering — they don’t always re-film the “It’s a Great Day,” sequence. “About half of the episodes we do the ‘Great Day’ dance so we can get it in our fancy outfits,” says Perry.

As for the transformation from Tara to Marina? It takes about an hour in hair and makeup, which she says flies by now.

Frest Beat last filmed episodes in summer 2011, but they are currently on another adventure together — touring as a band.

This, she says, has brought the cast even closer together. “You live on a bus with all your coworkers. We were all friends because we worked on the show but now we’re family,” says Perry. She misses her home, family and own bed — but she says that being able to see the kids react is worth it.

“On the show we film on a closed set. It’s us and a bunch of adults, so we really do feel kind of silly,” says Perry. “Getting to see the kids spinning around in circles and jumping up and down — it’s pretty awesome.”

Next: On being role models and how Perry followed her dream

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Role models for kids

The Fresh Beat Band is a show that stays firmly planted on the more positive side of things, showing a group of kind, generous friends who help each other out. Perry says that one of the things she loves about being on the show is how it encourages the arts in young people. “It’s all about being a rock star to yourself and I think that’s so cool. I did singing and dancing and art as a kid and I think that’s so good [for young people],” says Perry.

She also really appreciates the focus on good friendships.

When Perry isn’t working, she says that knowing her character is a role model does impact her choices a little. “To a point yes, because you are always aware of your surroundings. We are all in our mid 20s or older, and we’re adults so we go out,” says Perry. However since the cast is a little older, that makes it a little easier. “We didn’t grow up in the limelight so that Lindsay Lohan-like stuff we didn’t do in front of the cameras... And we were good kids.”

The road to L.A.

Long before Perry became the bubbly Marina on screen, she was a girl with a big dream of being on stage. After going off to college, Perry left school at Ole Miss when she was 19 to move to L.A. and pursue her dream. “My parents are incredibly supportive and it’s funny to me to think that I moved to California at 19. I want to high-five my parents and say thanks for trusting me,” says Perry, who says she's incredibly thankful for their support.

Perry's dream of working in the arts started when she was young. Once on a vacation to California when she was about 10, her family walked past a talent agency and Perry had them take a picture of her, saying that she’d be back there someday. Her parents agreed that it would happen. Now, Perry wishes she could locate that picture, since the dream came true.

When she was in her preteen and teen years, Perry was in pageants, including Junior Miss. “It was another outlet for me to be on stage,” says Perry. She especially enjoyed the pageants with platforms that allowed her to learn about an issue and educate others about it.

In high school, Perry stayed very active, doing theater, sports, dance and more. “I played almost every sport there was except basketball,” says Perry. She says that being so involved was good for her. “I was just surrounded by good people. When you keep your mind active like that you tend not to let your mind wander away.”

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Perry talks Jonesboro

While Perry’s character is all smiles and excitement, her own life hasn’t always been that way. When Perry was in the sixth grade, two students at a nearby middle school killed five people in one of the first of a rash of major school violence incidents. The massacre at Westside Middle School was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. middle school ever. Five were killed and 10 injured.

Perry was a student at a different Jonesboro middle school, but the incident hit home — and changed things for her and her classmates.  “I remember walking to the principal’s office and seeing every classroom door open and TVs on to CNN,” says Perry, who recalls recognizing the names and being struck that someone her age could do something like that.

“It was really scary. The school district down there got really strict,” says Perry. Following the incident, new safety measures were instituted to keep students safe like mandating clear backpacks and using metal detectors. “We had new drills,” says Perry.

“It was scary because you don’t start judging your peers at that age. For about a week you were a little nervous to go to school,” says Perry. And at Christmas time, a lot of yards had five angels on them in honor of the five people killed in the incident. “You hugged your family a little tighter. You hugged your friends a little tighter,” she says.

Happier times

These days, Perry and her castmates are busy with touring and occasionally getting recognized by young fans and their parents. She says it happens a lot when they are in airports — especially around the TSA checkpoint when they are together. ”We get recognized in New York City a lot too and we’ll get stopped and take a couple of pictures. And it’s funny because it’s usually the parents that see us first,” she adds.

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Photo credit: Daniel Tanner/ WENN.com