Pretty Little Liars' Troian Bellisario: I’m my own harshest critic

Text & Photos: Teo Sijia
Video: Fiona Lin

What does Troian Bellisario have in common with her character in the American hit drama series Pretty Little Liars? The American actress simply answered: a lot.

In Singapore to promote Pretty Little Liars, the actress plays Spencer Hastings, a straight-A student and overachiever from a family who expects the best.

In an interview with xinmsn, Troian shared that she and Spencer both face the same kind of anxieties as they struggle to manage their own as well as other people’s expectations.

Describing herself as “her own harshest critic and worst judge”, Troian admitted, “I have to try to get people to see me in a certain light, or to prove to people, because this is a career that I am building.”

“It’s like we set a level of expectation for ourselves, and project it on other people in turn,” she added.

Troian may be one of the lead stars in Pretty Little Liars, but the actress stressed that she is definitely honest. “I don’t tell lies or keep secrets of other people. But I am a very non-confrontational person, so I tend to keep a secret if it means not telling someone that something bothered me.”

Troian confessed that she sometimes gets secretive and stays out of sight from her friends until they ask about her whereabouts. “Sometimes I will think that people don’t really want to hang out with me, so I won’t hang out with anybody.”

The talented actress who wrote the script for her very first self-produced short film Exiles is also an avid writer. “My parents are both writers, they told me that the work that satisfies you the most is one that you make yourself. Don’t wait around for somebody to give you a job and to validate you as an artist.”