The Jared Littlejohn Experience

 

When thinking about notable people on campus, there are few who spring to mind sooner than Jared Littlejohn. The Bowdoin senior is one of the most notable friendly faces on campus, and he always has a kind word and a hug for anyone and everyone he meets. Her Campus took the time to interview him about everything from his five minutes of fame on screen to his plans after Bowdoin.

 

HC: What’s your major?JL: “I’m an English major, theater minor.”

 

HC: Not the English/Theater major? Why?JL: “Just in the event that I didn’t do anything with theater after college, I didn’t want the theater to take away from the English, so it seemed like I just had an English major, but I also love theater, so it’s nothing against theater.”

 

HC: Have you done theater your entire time at Bowdoin?JL: “Yes, I’ve done it all four years, which is kind of crazy. I’ve been in a production, at least one, or least something small, each year.”

 

HC: Any favorite moments?JL: “I did this one production [called] Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. It was like a one act, and it was crazy. There was a scene where I came in and my hand had been bitten off by a tiger. I came in and I’m threatening this guy, and there was blood and it was great. I still talk about it with the seniors who are left. That was one of the coolest things that I was a part of. Easily a fan favorite of mine.”

 

HC: So outside of theater, what are your hopes and dreams with English?JL: “In about two years, I’m considering doing law school, so I figured English would be a good segue, so that’s the move.”

 

HC: So, the reason that I’m doing the interview is because you have been deemed a “Campus Celebrity…”JL: “I’ll take that as a compliment!”

 

HC: It definitely is… I don’t understand, how do you survive going through the dining hall and having to hug every second person that you see?JL: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

 

HC: What’s your universal appeal, so to speak? Why does everyone adore you unconditionally?JL: “I think it comes from one piece of advice that I got from my uncle right before college. He said to me, “No matter what happens, always make sure you’re nice to people, even if it doesn’t mean you’re best friends with somebody. Just make sure that you treat people the way you want to be treated because you never know when they might need something from you, or you might need something from them. If all of your interactions with them are like, ‘Oh, how are you? What’s new?’, then if anything happens, people are just very willing to say, ‘Oh, I think Jared would be great for this!” I think that’s why. Maybe that’s where the appeal comes from… There’s really just no rationale behind me being mean to people. I also just get a lot of energy from people, like Superman gets his energy from the sun – I just get it from people and hugs. I’d say that’s it.”

 

HC: Do you have any random fun facts about yourself? Anything people might not know?JL: “Something that people might not know about me – this is pretty dumb – if you say hello to me on campus… and I have no clue who you are, but every time I see you, you’re like, “Oh, how’s it going?” I probably love you more than you could ever imagine. If, in all my interactions with someone, they kind of act weird or I’ve had class with them and they just act like we’ve never met, it’s a huge turn off for me. Whenever people see me and they say hello, that’s huge. My roommates and my friends have heard me rant about it all the time, like, “You know what grinds my gears?” That’s a fun fact about me. Whoever says hello to me, I immediately like.”

 

HC: That’s fantastic! So in terms of more background stuff, where are you from?JL: “I’m from South Orange, New Jersey.”

 

HC: Born and raised?JL: “Yeah, I was born in Livingston, New Jersey, at St. Barnabus. I was born at like, 5:05 in the afternoon. I’ve lived in the same house for…I guess I’m going to be 22 in like two weeks, so [since then]. Same place, same house. South Orange has been prime real estate for Jared Littlejohn for quite some time.”

 

HC: What’s your family like?JL: “I believe I get qualities and different traits from my mom and dad, but my grandmother feels like I’m my own person. She’s like, “Oh, you’re completely different from your parents.” My dad is a fireman and a carpenter, and he retires from the firehouse the same month I graduate, which is pretty awesome. And my mom is now working for a company that digitizes health records called NJ-HITEC, and she loves the work she’s doing now. Before that, up until 6th grade, she was kind of like, mega-helicopter mom. She was a lunch aide at all of the schools that I went to up until 6th grade, which had its ups and downs. It was great in terms of those days where someone would be like, “Aw, I forgot lunch,” and my mom would be like, “Oh, I’m going to get you Wendy’s!” But then any time I screwed up, my mom knew. Like, before it could happen, my mom knew. She could just immediately go and get a little recon from my teachers, like, “Oh, how was Jared in class today?” And the teacher would say, “Aw, he was talking a lot.” And I’d be like, “No! I’ll pay you off! I’ll do anything! Don’t tell her!” I love both my parents. I guess in terms of describing them… It’s so funny, my dad never wants to be bad cop. Like, even if he wants to say something to me, he’ll wait for my mom to say it and just want to be good cop. My mom has to be bad cop, but she hates always being [bad cop], so it’s a very funny balance between the two of them. They’re both great. I live with them and my grandmother.”

 

HC: No siblings?JL: “No, I’m an only child. My cousins were kind of my siblings, which was great. They kind of beat all of the only child traits out of me the minute I got big enough for them to wrestle and beat me up… Any time I didn’t want to share: “Nah, you’re gonna share, or we’re gonna beat you up!” So it worked out perfectly! So people don’t immediately think I’m an only child, which is for the better…”

 

HC: Did you do theater when you were growing up?JL: “So, one time my grandmother was going into this supermarket in town, and they were doing filming for this Meryl Streep movie in the town over. I guess they were looking for extras, because my grandmother just put me in front of this woman and went into the store. My friend’s mom was watching the film one day, and she was going through it, and she was like, “Why does that look like Jared?” I’ve watched it, and I’ve seen myself, and it’s so funny!”

 

HC: Wait, what movie are you in?JL: “It’s called One True Thing, and it’s this Meryl Streep film.”

 

HC: So little Jared is in a movie.JL: “Little Jared is in a movie. No production credit, but s’alright. So there was that, and I had to do a lot of productions in middle school, like Taming of the Shrew, stuff like that, which was absurd!”

 

HC: Straight for the big stuff.JL: “Yeah. That’s what happens with a school of less than 100 students. We did that and A Christmas Carol; and then in high school, I did The Wizard of Oz. I was the Cowardly Lion. I had the whole [outfit]. I’ve got pictures. That was absurd. When I auditioned for it, I told my mom, “I auditioned for the Scarecrow!” and she was like, “Eh, you’re the Cowardly Lion.” I was like, “Get out!” and she was like, “No, seriously, if they’re gonna call you back, it’s gonna be for the Cowardly Lion.” And they called me back and were like, “Hey, can you read for the Cowardly Lion?” I was just like, “I am miserable at how you’re always right. I don’t know what to say to you. But it makes me miserable.” That was a lot of what I was up to in high school, and then I came here. So I’ve done acting for a fairly long time. But in high school, I only started doing it again maybe junior, senior year. I kind of fizzled out of doing it, but it’s something fun that I really like doing.”

 

HC: Do you hope to keep doing theater after school?JL: “Yeah, I want to do it on the side. When I go home, actually – I got a text from this company that might want to film a commercial, which would be cool. I’ll do whatever little stuff I can do, if I have the time to do it. I would love to do commercials. That would be so much fun. That’s a dream job of mine, to just be able to [act in] commercials.”

 

HC: What is it about commercials that appeals to you?JL: “My dad is somebody who is always watching TV, and whenever he gets home from work at like 9 at night, he’s just sitting down watching TV and he loves commercials. There’s something very funny [about them]. I feel like they’re very low commitment, and I would just have the opportunity to do something wacky or something funny. That would be awesome.”

 

HC: Is there anything else you feel like you want to say? Anything important that I’ve missed that’s important for the Jared Littlejohn experience?JL: “Wow, that’s a question. Let’s see. What about me is so sophisticated or so complex? Hmm… I think the reason why I’ve been successful in terms of people liking me on campus is just kind of through a lot of experiences on campus and through Res Life training. I went to an all-boys private Catholic high school, and a lot of the language that we had there was just very sensitive. When I came to Bowdoin, it was cool to have the opportunity to learn about what’s cool and what’s not cool. Sometimes I see an event on campus, like, “We’re having a girls’ night only,” and I’m like, “But what about people who don’t identify as girls?” I think I’m a lot more conscientious of things like that, so I think that’s a huge part of who I am. I would say the person I was freshman year, before I’d had experience and had Res Life training and other training–that freshman year Jared is so different from senior year Jared. So I think that’s it. You have every single detail.”

 

HC: Every single detail?JL: “The only other detail is that my middle name is Todd, after my uncle Todd.”

 

HC: Is this the Uncle Todd who gave you the advice?JL: “Oh no, this is a different uncle. But my mom loves him, and he’s my Uncle Todd, so I’m Jared Todd Littlejohn!”