Samara Weaving muses on how her childhood travels prepared her to become an actor…
Christmas in Laos
I grew up moving all over the place. It was a childhood of constant traveling: Fiji, Singapore, Indonesia, Italy, Australia. And this resulted in very untypical holidays.
My parents preferred hiking in Nepal, sailing on questionable boats down Malaysian rivers, or driving on the back of motorbikes in Thailand—I still have a scar on my leg from hitting the exhaust pipe—to the more quintessential family holidays of settling in on a beach or finding a cabin somewhere, you know, safe and relaxing.
We had many wild adventures, but one holiday in particular stands out. It was enlightening and … traumatizing. I was 11. My family would often travel with another family who had children the same age as me and my sister, and we were off once again on an atypical Christmas holiday, this time to Laos.
As usual, we traveled off the beaten path to a small village. I remember we stopped at a school and the teachers and the kids started prodding at our skin and our hair—I realized they probably had never seen white people with blond hair and blue eyes before. We played games and communicated through that universal, innocent language of children. It didn’t matter that we didn’t actually speak the same language.
We eventually came to this group of huts near the Mekong River, where an American man welcomed us to stay for a few days. We played in the river and climbed trees, and there were lots of animals to watch and play with—although when I tried to play with this wild cat, it bit me on the finger.
The day before Christmas, the most adorable pig was brought into the village, and my sister and I and our friends fell in love with it. We named it Piggy and fed it and sang songs to it. We didn’t notice that our parents were looking somewhat hesitant about what the future held for this pig.
We all went to bed that night excited for St. Nick to come and visit us. We left out sticks of lemongrass for the reindeer and condensed milk and mango sticky rice for Santa.
And then, just as we were dozing off, we heard the most horrendous noise. We rushed out in our festive pajamas to see what the commotion was. Our parents tried to shield us from the horror, but we peeked through their legs to find Piggy being dragged off to the kitchen!
I learned where ham came from that night. And the next morning, I learned that when you’re in a tiny village in Laos for Christmas, Santa brings you bamboo flutes and straw dolls. (Through all of our holidays, we never clued in on the fact that Santa seemed to get local presents from wherever we were staying.)
Frequent flyer
Moving around and traveling as much as I did as a kid had a profound effect on me. If I had stayed in one house my entire childhood and teenage years, I would be far less likely to have the courage and drive and ambition that I have now—and that you really need as an actor.
And there’s something to say for being shown these different corners of the world as a child, when you’re innocent and have no judgment and don’t recognize that something is unusual. There’s a willingness and an acceptance that this is the world, and this is normal, and everyone is the same.
As an actor now, I’m always traveling and filming all over the world. I’m constantly on a plane. And I still love adventures—but not as much as my parents do. They would hike Nepal very year if they could. Me?I want to go to a resort someplace nice and have a house I can stay in for the rest of my life. For me, that is a new adventure.adventures—but not as
much as my parents do. They would hike Nepal every year if they could. Me? I want to go to a resort someplace nice and have a house I can stay in for the rest of my life. For me, thatis a new adventure.I grew up moving all over the place. It was a childhood of constant traveling: Fiji, Singapore, Indonesia, Italy, Australia. And this resulted in very untypical holidays. My par-ents preferred hiking in Nepal, sailing on question-able boats down Malaysian rivers, or driving on the back of motorbikes in Thailand—I still have a scar on my leg from hitting the exhaust pipe—to the more quintes-sential family holidays of settling in on a beach or find-ing a cabin somewhere, you k now, safe and relaxing. We had many wild adventures, but one holiday in particu-lar stands out. It was enlightening and … traumatizing. I was 11. My family would often travel with another f a m i l y w h o had children the same age as me and my sister, and we were off o n c e a g a i n on an atypi-cal Christmas holiday, this time to Laos. As usual, we traveled off the beaten path to a small village. I remember we stopped at a school and the T H E TA K E AWAYS a m a r a We av i ng stars in Bill & Ted Face the Music, opening in theaters August 2
Samara Weaving stars in ‘Bill & Ted Face the Music,’ premiering in theaters and on demand August 28.
