Elisha Cuthbert has a lot on her plate, a brand new TV show, husband Dion Phaneuf’s busy NHL schedule, and her latest gig with Brita. We spoke with her during the Toronto International Film Festival about how she does it all.
29Secrets: Is it true you’re working on a new TV series?
Elisha: Yes, it’s produced by Ellen DeGeneres and called One Big Happy Family. It’s going to be on NBC mid-season, so we’ll start directing it in the fall, and it will be on television in 2015.
29: Awesome, and what’s your character like?
Elisha: I’m playing a Lesbian having a child with her best straight male friend…obviously artificial insemination. In the process he falls in love with a woman and gets married. And we have to learn to all three live together. Little bit like Three’s Company meets Modern Family.
29: Awesome, so it’s a comedic role?
Elisha: I’ve wanted to do comedy but it was tough after Happy Endings to figure out what that was going to be. The only thing I hadn’t really done was multi-camera so I kind of wanted to tackle that and go through the challenge of shooting in front of a live studio audience.
29: That sounds like so much fun.
Elisha: I was terrified but we got the first episode under our belts and I felt much better after that, so I thought ‘okay I can do this’!
29: Obviously, you’re so busy. How do you find time for yourself to work out and stay fit?
Elisha: I’m 31 now and I only started really working out at 25. When you grow up not going to the gym, you know, it was like a really big learning curve and I didn’t know what to do. My husband’s really good at that so he’s letting me know what I should be doing and what I shouldn’t.
29: Being married to a professional athlete has its perks!
Elisha: Oh yeah, he’s a huge motivator, and he also has to be so active and so fit, so it’s kind of hard not to when you’re around someone that is so passionate about physical fitness.
29: Do you guys work out together?
Elisha: In the summer, we do. But, when he is working, he works out with the team. And that’s the thing, I have to find a way to now do it on my own and I’ve really kind of adapted to that, which is good.
29: What’s your biggest beauty secret?
Elisha: I believe what you put in your body you get out of it, like drinking lots of water is a huge thing for me. That’s why I teamed up with Brita. I just, I love waking up and having a big glass of water. I think it’s so good for our bodies, it’s so good for our skin.
29: When it comes to beauty, do you love going glam, or natural?
Elisha: I love going natural day to day. Because that way, when I do go glam, there is a difference. When I was younger I wore a lot of makeup, and it is crazy because I probably didn’t need to. But as I get older, I feel like I’m trying to get away with as little as possible.
29: What item of clothing can’t you live without?
Elisha: A great pair of black dress pants. I have quite a few, and I just feel like you could keep it casual or you could dress it up with a heel. It’s such a great staple to have.
29: What’s your secret to feeling confident?
Elisha: It’s sort of changed over the years, but as I get older, I think that the more I take care of myself, the more proud I am of myself, which makes me so confident. Eating well and putting in the time for myself, if that is going for a walk or getting into the gym, it makes me feel better in my clothing, which makes me feel better about myself.
29: What’s been great about working with Brita?
Elisha: I was always a fan of Brita. I always had it in the fridge, I had like the big jug container, and then when they came out with the portable one it was like a game changer for me because it made it so much easier. I could fill my water anywhere. I could fill my water at the gym, and it was being purified…I could fill it at work, um, it was just one of those things, that I could just take it anywhere, and it made so much sense. And then pairing up with them, finding out that Canadians are drinking more than two billion cans of soda a year. I was like, “Why isn’t everyone just running around with these Britas?” And I think Brita tastes better than bottled water. But that’s just me, you know drinking it over the years, I feel like I can tell the difference now. It just makes sense, and I wanted to get the word out that it’s better for you, and Brita makes it so easy.
