Update 1



So it has finally happened - Larisa Oleynik the girl with all those extra special powers from the Secret World of Alex Mack has entered cyberspace and what an entrance she made.

Larisa has got her new Powerbook with all the speed that she can handle, she's got e-mail, she's got shockwave, she has an 8xCD-rom, she's got her own personal chat room and oh boy has she got FANS!

Recently Larisa did her first on-line chat and it was one of the most successful we have ever had on Celebrity Sightings. Look out for Larisa chatting once a month every month from now on PLUS keep checking back into her chat room because as most of you know by now...you can never tell when one of the stars will just drop by to say hello.

Here in Up Close we try to bring you (the true fan) a little closer to the real personality of Larisa than you have ever been before. We tell you what you want to know and of course all of our information comes straight from Larisa herself.

We don't need any gossip, we don't want any tittle-tattle, (well not much anyway), because this is the OFFICIAL Larisa Oleynik fan club web site and we want it to rock your world!

STRAIGHT TALKING

Larisa and her mom Lorraine blew into the Celebrity Sighting headquarters recently to take part in her first ever scheduled chat session. Needless to say it was a huge success with many fans hanging out in her chat room for hours before she was even due to log on.

Larisa seemed to love every minute of the hour long question and answer session in which she answered over 130 questions! Members and guests of Celebrity Sightings were eager to find out everything they could about their favorite TV Star and presented her with all sorts of testing questions about her acting, her school work, her ambitions and even advice on starting out in the business.

Larisa also took part in a very hotly contested trivia contest where the luckiest (or should I say the fastest) members won personally signed photographs and an exclusive signed Alex Mack T-shirt! It was wacky and it was wild!

After finishing her chat Larisa and her mom had to rush straight off down the road to an Alex Mack casting session where Larisa was asked to take a look at a room full of hopeful young actors who were auditioning for a very sought after role on the show. Phwew..... It was just that sort of day.

SWEET HEART LARISA

One of the many things that you realize when you get to know Larisa like we have, is that she has a huge heart and is very supportive of a number of different charities. For example she is very concerned about the environment generally and was pretty enthusiastic when she told me about 'The Surf Rider Foundation'. The Foundation attempts to ensure that the beaches and the seas around America are safe and clean for swimmers, surfers and all marine animals. It's a way cool organization so keep an eye out for it. In fact take a tip from Larisa and check out the cool Surfrider Foundation CD called MOM ( which stands for Music for our Mother Earth). It feature a ton of Larisa's favorite bands like No Doubt, Pearl Jam, Porno for Pyro's, Primus, Jewel, Sublime, Silverchair, Soundgarden and many many more. If you are into alternative music then this one is a definite keeper.

And while we are talking about big hearts we should also tell you about a very special young man who we mentioned in last months Up Close and who has found a place close to Larisa's heart.

Lance O'Reilly is the inspiration behind the 'Hands across Communication' charity, a non profit organization which supports deaf children in the community. Larisa became great friends with Lance while she was working on the movie 'The Baby-sitters Club' and they are still very close.

According to his father, Lance, who is profoundly deaf, knew from a very early age what he wanted to do and that was appearing in movies and on television. In fact when he was only 10 years old he turned to his father and said " Dad....I want to be famous....how can I do that? "

His parents approached some agents, Lance began to audition and the rest as they say is history. Since starting off in show business Lance has appeared in several different commercials as well as the movie "THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB". Larisa was even more thrilled recently when Lance co-starred in a recent NBC Movie of the Week called "Home Invasion". Lance plays a member of a family held hostage by intruders and uses his sign language abilities in order to communicate with family members and the police and stop the burglars.

As you can see from our exclusive pix, Larisa is such a fan of Lance that every year you can find her out on the field hitting home runs in a celebrity softball game which is held in order to benefit the 'Hands across Communications' organization. Watch this space for details of this years game.

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TOP TIPS! Larisa is totally into all the new alternative and ska bands who are playing around Los Angeles at the moment. According to Larisa one of the best new bands to emerge on the scene recently are called Save Ferris. Save Ferris is a Southern California Orange County ska, pop & swing band that amazingly found popularity within a few months of their appearances. This talented band was introduced on KROQ, a famous southern California Radio Station.

The band members are: Monique Powell (vocals), Marc Harismendy (drums), Jose Castellanos (trumpet), Eric Zamora (alto saxophone), Brian "T-Bone Willy" Williams (trombone) , Bill Uechi (bass), and Brian Mashburn (guitar,vocals).

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FROM ACTING TO ALGEBRA

So what's it actually like being a television personality and shooting a top rated show like Alex Mack every day?

Well according to Larisa it's a lot of work and it's not always the glamour fest that you might think. First of all everyday on the set is a long one. Often times Larisa has to be on the set and ready for make-up at around 6:30am or 7:00am which means she has to get up around 5:00am!!! Then of course she has to rehearse her scenes and of course learn all the lines for each episode. Luckily Larisa is pretty used to all that.

Also remember that even though Larisa is at work on the set during the week she still has to keep up to date with all her school work and has a tutor on the set for at least 3 hours everyday.

This means that one moment she might be using her special Alex Mack powers to get herself in or out of trouble and the next she might be reading poetry or doing some algebra!

Although it can be pretty hard to concentrate sometimes with all the hustle and bustle of a television set, Larisa makes sure that she is always as up to date as possible with her school work and like millions of kids across America Larisa was recently sweating it over a whole bunch of finals.Larisa told us that she thinks that she did pretty well in most of them but is relieved that they are all over now.

Weather conditions can also affect life on the set. Larisa films the episodes of Alex Mack in a suburb of Los Angeles and in the summer months this means it can get incredibly HOT, DUSTY and WINDY! Lunch time on the set can often be quite an event with paperplates and napkins flying through the air and you've got to be super quick if want to get something to eat at all. So it's a good job Larisa likes to stay in trim!

Come back soon and find out more about Larisa Oleynik and make sure you keeping watching the calendar for details of Larisa's next scheduled chat.