TEEN STAR IS NO ‘RAVEN’ LUNATIC
Katz: Not changed by success of TV show
The happiest channel on Earth doesn’t always churn out the happiest stars — but 15-year-old “Raven’s Home” star Sky Katz could be the exception.
The native Long Islander has played tomboyish Tess on the “That’s So Raven” spin-off on the Disney Channel since it premiered in 2017.
Though she stays in Los Angeles with her mother while filming, living in La La Land has “definitely not changed me,” Katz told the Daily News Friday during an interview where she was chaperoned by her father.
“My parents definitely help me to stay out of trouble,” Katz said, crediting her folks with ensuring she has “a balanced life,” that includes frequent trips home to “do normal kid stuff,” like spend time with friends, family and her dog.
“A lot of people click with me instantly there, because in L.A., it’s harder to find someone straight up and genuine and down to earth,” Katz explained, adding that she’s “learned a lot from it but it definitely has not changed me. If anything, it taught me to not change myself.”
Her true self extends to the small screen, where the character of Tess has adopted some of Katz’s reallife traits, namely a penchant for rapping and hoops.
“When they sent out the auditions, the description [for Tess] was ‘a Melissa McCarthy type’ person … And I don’t think I’m like that,” Katz told The News. “They did not ask for, like, a spunky New York-type edgy girl.”
The series reunites stars Raven-Symoné, 34, as wellmeaning psychic Raven Baxter and 35-year-old Anneliese
van der Pol as her ditsy but sweet bestie, Chelsea. The two are now divorced and living together with their respective children. Katz’s character Tess is a friend and neighbor who lives across the hall.
The original “Raven” ran from 2003 to 2007 and produced more than a few troubled teen stars.
Van der Pol, who also played the final Belle in Broadway’s “Beauty and the Beast,” was arrested in 2006 for drunkenly colliding with a parked car. She pleaded no contest.
Orlando Brown, 32, played lovable Eddie on “Raven,” and has since faced charges that have included domestic battery, obstruction of justice and narcotics possession . In 2018, he could not name or correctly identify the ages of the four children he claimed to have when speaking to “Dr. Phil” host Phil McGraw.
Katz, however, said her love of her work and and her family’s devotion to keeping her level-headed, help her survive in a dog-eat-dog field.
“I’m like a troublemaker but a normal troublemaker,” the teen explained. “I don’t go too far. But I think my parents definitely help me stay grounded.”
That balance extends to the rap music she continues to put out.
Katz, who grew up in Melville, L.I., is “always in the city.” She released the “New York-themed” song and video, “On the Block” in December “to show a piece of what I do everyday and where I come from.”
“It’s weird to think about, and I still don’t think I’ve processed it,” Katz said. “I feel like it’s so many kids’ dreams to look on the TV and say, ‘Oh I want to do that.’ ”