"Big Little Lies" Star on Playing Reese Witherspoon's Daughter

So Catherine, since I don't know anything about golfing, but I have heard that the golf swing is super, super important. Can you give us a little demonstration of your expert golf swing?

Here it is. This is how I set up. Okay.

Yes. Hold that finish. Hold it. What's up, guys? This is Young Hollywood and I'm Molly Argue hanging out in studio today with the fabulous Catherine Newton. Hello. Thanks for joining us.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Of course, now we have to talk about Big Little Lies. Of course. You've been acting since you're four. So not only are you fashionable, but you're also the actress extraordinaire. So, weird. Do you remember the first time you were actually acting? Do you remember that?

Really? I remember I wouldn't do it. I would not. I just remember being on set. I remember cameras that are like triple the size of these. And like they were big round cameras and they had candy, but I wouldn't say my lines. I uh, yeah. I just remember dressing up, though. My character was Chloe Chanler, and uh, she wore like these gowns, and she was six. And so it's great. But then you reach a certain age and uh, you realize how fun it is. And um, I've been working my whole life, but I mean it's always just come naturally and uh, I love it.

Well, and Big Little Lies has an outstanding cast. Unbelievable. You play Reese Witherspoon's daughter.

Yeah. Yeah, I do. In the show.

How has it been working with her?

She's so funny. You know, she's just like Southern, like Tennessee, like. Thank you. After the table read, I was the most nervous that day because that's when all the stars were there and I was I was like, oh my god, I need to meet everyone. And everyone's so good. But as soon as I met her, afterwards, we had like lunch at the table and we just talked about like growing up. I knew immediately that it was just going to be fun and easy. And then the first day when we actually had our scenes, like our first scene together, was the scene at the piano. She's so good and Jean-Marc just sets a creative tone. It was so chill and just very free. I immediately was like, it didn't feel like I was acting. It was just fun.

Wow. I think that's probably how you know that you're supposed to be doing what you're doing. You know, when it just feels that natural. So, when you were auditioning for this role, I'm guessing you didn't meet her then, you met her afterwards.

I met her at the table read was the first time and um the audition process was really fun. Yeah. It was one of those auditions where you see it and you're like, okay, everyone's a huge star. Let's move on. All right. What am I going to do after? And then when I met Jean-Marc, there's certain auditions that are really special. And it was kind of like I knew I was going to get it. I was like, it just felt right. I think I'm going to get it. Because I'm nothing really like my character. I mean, I'm a teenager. You know, sassy.

How are you guys most similar and maybe most different?

I don't usually do anything to my hair. I don't usually wear makeup. So that was pretty similar. But, um, as far as like the characters were very different. So in the audition, Jean-Marc was like, I don't believe you can be mean. He's like, show me. Show me that you can be mean. I want you to show me your rebel. So he like put me against the wall, gave me a piece of gum, and like made me flip off the camera. And I was like, I think I'm going to get it now. I was like, yeah.

You're like, I actually kind of like this.

Yeah, exactly.

Well, in honor of Big Little Lies, I figured we'd play two truths and a lie today. Okay. So, let's see, let's see if I can guess. Okay. So, I have two truths and one lie.

Yeah. Okay. Okay. I love hot Cheetos. Um,

Regular Cheetos?

No, the hot Cheetos.

Hot Cheetos. Okay.

I have 100 pair of shoes. And I'm a really good texter.

The 100 pair of shoes is definitely a truth. Hot Cheetos are good texture. I'm going to go with the fact that you love hot Cheetos and I'm going to say maybe you're not a good texter.

I'm such a bad texter. I'm so bad. You got it. Yeah, you did. No, I'm the worst texter. I'll like read a text and like just won't respond for five hours. I'm just awful.

Well, between golf and you know, traveling you have an excuse.

Yeah, I got to work on that, though. Sorry, guys.

So, we have to talk about golf because I know golf is one of your biggest hobbies. Yeah. So how did your passion for golf start?

Well, I'm from, um, I'm from Miami, Florida, and I we still have our house in Florida. It's on a golf course. My dad was a golfer and he's like, you're going to play golf. That's it. So, he taught me how and that's how I made a lot of my friends in high school. And I'm so oddly like good at it. I don't know why. And so it was I was going to seriously do it and I was going to try and go play at UC as a walk-on. And I was like really serious about it. And then I got Big Little Lies. I was like, well, I'm going to do this.

So, you grew up playing golf, you absolutely love it. And then you were thinking about, were you maybe going to put acting on the hold for a little bit. As as far as playing golf at that level, that's a serious thing. Like that's You don't mess around.

So, it was like either one or the other. It's not like uh even going to school and like taking a couple classes. If you're an athlete, you're an athlete.

That was probably a tough decision for you, you know, to choose between acting or your favorite sport.

It wasn't that hard. Golf is a lot lot harder than acting. No, no, no. Acting is a lot easier than golf. Yeah. That's how that way. Golf you have to work so hard. You have to do it every day. And the competition. But there's something really special about it. I think there's a nice balance I have between acting and golfing. It's like it's not subjective. You leave it all out on the course. You know, I love playing alone. Put my headphones in. But it's also what I do with my dad. So, therapy almost, you know, probably therapeutic to get out there.

Yeah. Those girls are inspiring.

Yeah. Some of the best golfers I've ever played with out here in LA.

I've seen a few of your Instagrams on the golf course. And of course, you look fabulous while you're golfing. You have these super cute chic black and white checkered sunglasses.

I lost those. I lost those. I don't know where they are. If you find them, you can have them. It's fine. I post too many pictures of them. But I'm trying to make golf cool. You know, I'm trying to make it cute. I don't know.

You do.

I'm working on it, girl.

And you also make boxing really cool. You box as well.

Boxing is like you know, you feel so bad-ass. You have to be focused. Oh, yeah. You have to really be in the moment. You can't be thinking about that audition I went on two hours ago. You know, you have to really be. It's the same with golf. It takes a huge amount of dedication.

I love boxing as well. I'm not any good at it.

Okay, so you get it, though.

But what's your favorite little boxing combo?

Oh, just like upper cut, you know, upper cut. Yeah. That one. I love the cross jab.

Yes. So fun. All right. Well, how do you think boxing and golf are maybe most similar?

Well, I have to Golf people think it's not athletic. They're like, oh, it looks so easy. It's not. So, there's a lot that you have to do in like training. And I don't know. I'm not very strong. Like upper body-wise in boxing's really good for your arms. Um, anything in your core. Your core is so important. You know, playing, you know, when you're playing tournaments, you're playing like 36 holes a day and I'm carrying my bag and it's just a stamina. It's actually helped me a lot in film actually. Um, I did a movie, Paranormal Activity 4, and it was the first movie I was like the lead of. And it was amazing how many hours we worked but how I was able to get through it. Because you're stamina. Keep doing it because my stamina was so good and I think that's from being an athlete.

So, Catherine, since I don't know anything about golfing, but I have heard that the golf swing is super, super important. Can you give us a little demonstration of your expert golf swing? I'm going to get out of your way.

Okay. So, um, so this is what you do. Especially in heels, you have to wear heels on the golf course. It's very important.

Can we can we look at these shoes, by the way? How blingy they are? Yes. You know, golfing in these would be That's what the you would ruin That's like a vogue cover. Golfing in these shoes. You would get in big trouble if you wore them on the golf course. Okay. So, um, here it is. This is how I set up. Okay. So, I'm looking Hold over there. Check it out. Okay. Okay. Yes. Hold that finish. Hold it. Hold it. Okay. It's in the hole.