How Lili Reinhart Fought For Her Casting On Riverdale
Lili Reinhart is becoming one the most watched actresses on television today. The young star is best known for her role on the CW show, Riverdale. The teen drama features characters from the Archie comics, which include the titular character, Archie, and his friends: Jughead, Veronica, and Betty. Reinhart portrays Betty Cooper, the love interest of Jughead. In the Riverdale show, Reinhart’s character is much darker than in the comic books, and she doesn’t have a rivalry with Veronica.
Reinhart’s performance has received critical acclaim, and the actress has gained a large following because of it. However, the young actress almost didn’t get the part of the blonde beauty.
Lili Reinhart had to fight for Riverdale
The 23-year-old actress shared that before she began acting on Riverdale, she had just moved to Los Angeles and was sharing an apartment with several others while she was auditioning. “I didn’t have a car, so I was spending $500 Ubering everywhere. I remember looking at my bank account and seeing all of this money that I had saved acting over the course of many years just gone,” the actress recalled. Reinhart also dealt with anxiety when trying to book roles and called it a “miserable” period of her life.
The actress credited her mom for helping her deal with her mental health and coping with being in a new environment. Reinhart added that when she went in for the audition for Riverdale, she was in the process of basically rebuilding her life while also trying to figure out the best dosage of her medication.
“I went on a medicine that gave me the worst mood swings — I felt like a monster. My mom was like, ‘I can’t even be in the same room as you.’ And this is when I was self-taping for Riverdale. I spent three hours on my first audition tape and I felt like I could not get it right. I sent it in and wasn’t the girl. It doesn’t surprise me, because I was in a [expletive] place when I taped that,” the actress explained.
She didn’t let rejection stop her
Lili Reinhart had auditioned for the role more than once. She was turned down multiple times, as were most of the other actors (Reinhart said Cole Sprouse, who plays Jughead, was the only one who made it in on his first audition). Regardless, she was more determined than ever to land the part. The actress auditioned again in person, which she was more proud of, and that audition led to her getting the role.
Reinhart remembered getting the call from her manager about the news stating, “I got the call from the manager, and she said, ‘You got it. You’re Betty Cooper.’ It felt so unreal. My friend was standing across from me, and when I put the phone down, he said, ‘I literally just watched your life change.'”
Despite her rough start in the early stages of her career, Reinhart pulled through and now has gone on to star in more roles that have helped her career skyrocket. Only time will tell how far the young star will make it, but she’s quickly proved her determination to be an actor.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tMHGoJysrF6YvK57y6KjomWimravtMCrq2aen6q0qcCMn6arZZOWwLW1zaBkq6Gmmr%2BlrcueZm5vZ2x9cA%3D%3D