Lauren Ash was coming off long days of filming season 5 of Superstore when production abruptly shut down and her season was cut an episode short due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Now, after two months in quarantine, Lauren revealed to HollywoodLife.com that she’s remained busy with work, but has also taken the time to enjoy the R&R she’s worked so hard for! Like so many of us, Lauren has reconnected with old friends, embraced her inner chef and binge-watched a number of shows (including Tiger King, and yes, she hears your Carole Baskin casting wishes). We caught up with Lauren in an EXCLUSIVE interview about how she’s staying active and sane in the Q!
What are you binge watching during the quarantine? So many things. Arrested Development…We went back to the beginning, my boyfriend and I binged all of that. We’re not finished yet, but we’ve been slowly picking away. That’s our breakfast show, we watch that one in the mornings! The British Office we re-binged all the way through again. That’s one of my favorites. Luther is one that we started that we’re part way through, which is a nighttime show. It’s got a darker feel to it. And then, of course, all the runaway hits — Tiger King, The Last Dance.
What are your at home quarantine essentials? What did you stock up on before? I‘ve really gotten into cooking during quarantine. I love to cook and I always have, but I’m so busy that I just never do. I never cook for function, I only have ever cooked for pleasure. But now that I have a few more hours in the day, I literally have cooked I would say 95 percent of the meals we’ve eaten since we went into lockdown, and it’s been amazing. It’s been like really cool to explore that and try new things and make things that I’ve never made before and make up my own recipes. My staples have changed quite significantly. I’m making quiche, so I’m stop stockpiling eggs. I also planted a vegetable garden unrelated to quarantine, but the vegetables just kind of started to grow very conveniently, and I have these two different kinds of beautiful tomatoes that are basically going into everything we’re eating.
What’s on your Quarantine playlist? The one thing I will say is, is that a group of my girlfriends and I just started doing Zoom Zumba. So what we do is we put Zoom on our laptops and then we put a Zumba class that airs live on Instagram from this gym back in Toronto called Elle Fitness. And our beautiful instructor, Emily, leads us through some of the most flailing, ridiculous arm choreography dances. I’ve got to tell you, it’s the highlight of my week. It’s first of all, the only thing that has been making me want to exercise. I just want to nap. But this has been really joyful. It’s also been fun because we never would have done that. This group of girlfriends, we were all spread out in many different time zones and we never would have done this. So it’s been a nice silver lining.
What are you doing to workout and stay fit at home (in addition to Zumba!)? So, I decided to go for a jog. I’m not a runner, but I was thinking I’d go for a jog. But in L.A., if you leave your house, you have to wear a mask at this point. And so I went for a jog and wearing a mask and was slowly but quickly started suffocating myself. I’d just try to breathe and it was inhaling into my mouth. And I was like, I can’t do this. I can’t do it. So that’s out. The Zoom has been like the one mainstay that I’ve definitely I’ve done every single week that we’ve been in quarantine. Other than that, I’m very, very lucky that I have a pool, so I’ve been swimming for exercise a little bit, too.
You can listen to our full interview with Lauren Ash on the HollywoodLife podcast, chatting all about the Superstore finale, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and more!