Lauren L. Jackson '07

It is rare to see a former Fox Kid, a Disney Fashion Show star, or a grown-up child actor from Power Rangers commercials walking Cambridge’s streets. More often, one sees an exceptional young adult who exudes creative energy and woefully over-commits to her extracurriculars while managing to be all smiles and laughter. But as both a typically dedicated Harvard student and a longtime performer, Lauren L. Jackson ’07 manages to defy the odds.

A native of Orange County, Calif., Jackson began dancing at the ripe old age of three. “As a kid, I was constantly moving around,” she says, so her parents decided to channel her energy into dance lessons. The decision certainly paid off: by the age of seven, Jackson was dancing professionally, moving stealthily between commercials and kids shows as her daily fare. She remains a member of the Screen Actors’ Guild, though her busy schedule at Harvard has prevented much more screen time.

A quick look at Jackson’s activities here—Harvard groups, projects, and productions—shows why she hasn’t been hitting the casting couch. Working with City Step, Jackson choreographs dances for children. She also dances with the Expressions Dance Company, and acts and sings with the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club.

One of Jackson’s most recent projects has been choreographing the “Rocky Horror Show” at the Loeb Experimental Theater. She originally became interested in the show through her friend, producer John T. Drake ’06, and agreed to choreograph it because it looked “kind of easy.” She reports having a lot of fun with the “amazing production staff” as they worked on the show.

Naturally, “Rocky Horror” differed from other productions Jackson has choreographed, and according to her, its “fun genre” provided a welcome change from her experience on the more traditional “Carousel” last year. Yet a show like “Rocky Horror” also presented its own unique new challenges, among them “getting guys to practice in heels.”

While she will “always choose dance over everything,” Jackson also enjoys branching out to other aspects of the stage. When she is not busy dancing and choreographing at the Ex, she is rehearsing Anton Chekhov’s play “The Seagull,” scheduled to open on November 10 at the Loeb Mainstage.

Jackson loves Sociology, her concentration, and, she says, makes time for it. Still, she would rather save 20 out of 24 hours of the day for performing.

Jackson enjoys delighting audiences, so her professional aspirations should come as no surprise. Professional dance is her “ultimate goal,” but she remains realistic about the future. Her “next bet” is a career in the entertainment industry, perhaps in advertising. At any rate, one thing is perfectly clear to Jackson: “There’s no way I can stop performing. It would just kill me.”

—Staff writer Jennifer D. Chang can be reached at jdchang@fas.harvard.edu.