You would never know it from his laid-back attitude and the lazy, ear-to-ear grin permanently stuck on his face, but Ross Lynch is one seriously busy 17-year-old. In February, his family band, R5, released their second EP and a music video for "Loud," and he's just finished filming the Disney Channel original movie "Teen Beach Movie." Not to mention, his role as Austin on Disney's "Austin & Ally" keeps him pretty occupied.
It's a mystery how Ross found time to hang out at The Huffington Post offices in New York on Monday, but lucky for us we were able to grab some time with the oh-so charming actor/musician. We chatted about all of the projects he's working on, what it's like to work with the awesome Laura Marano ("Ally") and how he de-stresses.
First question is from our Twitter follower @omggkelly: What do you have in common with your character Austin on Disney's "Austin & Ally?"
Austin is more energetic than me, but we both love music and we both love entertaining people.
What's the biggest difference between you and your character?
Our biggest difference is that he's younger than me. I feel like because I'm older than him, I have a more mature mindset.
What can fans expect to see more of in this season of "Austin & Ally"?
More music and comedy, and an unexpected crush. Austin and Ally may have some mixed feelings for each other.
What's your favorite part about working on the show?
My favorite part about working on the show is probably the people on set. Everyone is super nice and funny, and very dedicated and hardworking. It's a good environment to work in.
Without embarrassing her too much, tell us what you know about Laura from working with her that you don't think anyone else would know?
Check this out -- she smacks her mouth while she eats food.
Ha!
Well, it's because when we were in school -- I just graduated a week ago -- she used to eat bananas. I'd be doing school work and she'd made that smacking noise when she ate. I thought it was funny.
If you could go back in time and give your younger self any advice, what would it be?
I think the reason you make mistakes is so you can learn from them, right? So I think it's good to make those mistakes. I don't know if I would tell myself one thing... I probably wouldn't even tell my younger self anything. Just to live life.
How was making "Teen Beach Movie" different from "Austin & Ally?"
Completely different. A big reason is because you're on location instead of being on a set all day. I also got really tanned really fast. "Teen Beach Movie" was a lot of fun because we were in Puerto Rico on an island -- you can't even call it work!
You just released the music video for your new EP with R5, "Loud." What has that experience been like?
It's really cool. My brother says this all the time, and I'm not trying to be cheesy or anything, but I'm basically doing what I love with my family. [...] Obviously the "Austin & Ally" soundtrack came out first and that was fun, but R5 is a different feeling.
From our Twitter follower @LauraMaranoCAN: Do you interact with a lot of fans on Twitter? What's your favorite way to connect with fans on social media?
To talk to fans, probably Twitter because it's so easy -- you just go to your mentions, hit reply and you can say whatever you want. As far as putting stuff on social media, I think Instagram is really cool because I like the visual aspect. You're taking pictures and you can put a filter on them, and it's super creative.
How do you manage to de-stress when you're feeling overwhelmed?
When I'm feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, sometimes I'll read a book. But most of the time I will either listen to music or play music. I'm basically always playing music even if I'm not stressed!
