Hey, Blog Readers!

Just like all of you, everyone here at Everything Summer Camp has their own favorites of musicians, movie stars, and other celebrities among the many in the modern day biz. And just like all of you, all of the celebrities we feature on our Summer Camp Celebrity blog posts at some point went to summer camp.

Today’s post will be the third summer camp celebrity blog post we’ve published. The last summer camp celebrity that we talked about was the spritely actress/musician Zooey Deschanel; and before her post, we talked about the delightful Anne Hathaway.

Today we’re talking about the one, the only, the magnificent, James Franco who attended a four-week summer program for gifted high-schoolers at Innerspark: California State Summer School for the Arts. This summer program studies the art of Theater, along with Animation, Dance, Film, Music, Visual Arts, and—my own, personal favorite—Creative Writing.

James continued to pursue his passion after his summer camp experience and spent 15 months training to be an actor. He then plugged away in Los Angeles, auditioning for parts and yielding minimal results for two years before landing work on the cult classic television series Freaks and Geek in 1999. 

Two years after Freaks and Geeks which only lasted one season, James was cast to play James Dean in a biographical, made-for-TV movie. For this part, Franco really studied James Dean. He took the role so seriously the he learned to ride a motorcycle, and learned to play the guitar as well as the bongos just to better understand his character. It’s no surprise he won a Golden Globe Award for his portrayal.

With many other films along the way, James landed himself the part of Harry Osborn, the child of the evil Green Goblin in the superhero movie, Spider-Man. He then continued the role in the following, extremely (and increasingly) successful sequels in 2004 and again in 2007.

Mr. Franco continues to remain busy with his work as he is currently starring as the wizard in the Disney prequel, Oz: The Great and Powerful.

A good start in summer camp, patience, and determination is all it took for James Franco. What will it take for you? And, as always, thanks for reading.

Hey there, Campers!

Last month we featured one of our summer camp celebrity blog posts about the lovely Anne Hathaway. We learned about her early aspirations to become a nun, about her fame by the young age of eighteen, and about her admiration for a favorite actress of hers, Meryl Streep.

Today I’ll be posting about a favorite actress of mine—not to mention, an accomplished musician! Who’s that girl? It’s the talented Zooey Deschanel. When she was a kid, Zooey went to summer camp at the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts.

Founded in 1970, French Woods is a performing arts summer camp owned by Ron Schaefer. The camp is located on a private lake called Sand Pond in the western area of the Catskill Mountains, just outside Hancock, New York.

If you have interest in the performing arts, French Woods is a camp for you to check out. They offer programs in dance, magic, visual arts, skateboarding, sport and horseback riding, and—oh yeah—technical theatre and music!—Ms. Deschanel’s two artistic passions in life.

Naturally gifted and graceful, Zooey’s reputation seems to point in the direction that as a child she enjoyed being a girly-girl. “I hate camping,” she’s said to have confessed. “But I love summer camp!”

Her interests in the performing arts and her influential summer camp experiences helped guide her along as she has paved the way for her own success.

One of her first roles, as a rebellious daughter, came around when she was 20 in the movie Almost Famous back when she was almost famous. She’s since gone on to play memorable roles in such films as Elf starring Will Ferrell, The Bridge to Terabithia, and (500) Days of Summer.

Extremely talented, Zooey knows more than just acting. She’s also musically inclined and knows how to play various percussion instruments, the banjo, the ukulele, and keyboard.

In 2006, she joined forces with master musician, Matt Ward, and together they released their debut album Volume One under the name She & Him. They have since released their follow-up album, Volume Two, as well as their very own Christmas collection, A Very She & Him Christmas.

Zooey has been nominated for a Golden Globe, a Grammy, and an Emmy Award as well. She is currently the star of the television sitcom New Girl on Fox.

All these talents she has now may have blossomed during her time at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts camp. Imagine what skills or talents might be nurtured in you when you go to camp! Till next time, readers. And, as always, thanks for reading!

John

Hey, Summer Campers!

The other day on the introduction to this blog, I went over all the different topics we’ll be discussing in our posts. Remember?

Well, today I’m posting one of our summer camp celebrity posts where you’ll read all about which summer camps your favorite celebrities attended.

Considering that in America alone, over 10 million kids are going to summer camp every year, it’s not really that surprising to find out who in Hollywood—and how many of them—went to summer camp when they were younger.

Today we’re talking about the all-star actress, Anne Hathaway who attended Camp Johnsonburg in northwestern New Jersey. Back in her summer camp days, she always thought she would become a nun when she grew up, but as we all know, her future would take her down a very different path.

Though she’d already acted in a few stage roles and appeared in the television series Get Real, Anne hit stardom by age 18 when she brought  Mia Thermopolis to life on the big screen in the Disney film The Princess Diaries in 2001. She then played the same character in the movie’s sequel in 2004.

She’s also famous for the roles she played in lots of other movies such as Hoodwinked, The Devil Wears Prada (in which she got to work alongside her idol, Meryl Streep), and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland which she did in 2010.

Two years later, she played Selina Kyle in the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises; and in the same year won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress as Fantine in Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables.

Comparable and reminiscent of such classic actresses as Audrey Hepburn and Judy Garland, Anne Hathaway seems a natural celebrity superstar despite her initial aspirations.

I guess her story just goes to show that you really never can tell. And who knows? Maybe you’ll end up on the big screen and eventually be noted in an Everything Summer Camp blog post about celebrities who attended summer camps when they were little! Until next time, camp fans. As always, thanks for reading!

- John