Larsen Thompson: 'I was a terrible dance student'

She may have starred in music videos for Katy Perry, Sia and Pink, but Larsen Thompson has revealed she didn’t take dancing “seriously” when she was very young.

The 19-year-old model, dancer and actress started dancing aged 4 - but admitted she was a “terrible student” and “wouldn’t listen to the teachers.”

She said watching a documentary featuring American dancer Simrin Player inspired her to “focus” and take “as many classes as possible.”

Speaking to Hello! Fashion Monthly, Thompson said: “[Initally] I didn’t take it seriously at all. My teacher even told my parents they should find a different sport for me. I was a real ruckus of energy and wouldn’t listen to the teachers. I really was a terrible student. Then, at nine years old, I watched a documentary featuring a dancer I really looked up to called Simrin Player. She said how she didn’t take dancing seriously until she was nine, and I was like, ‘I’m nine years old, I want to be her, I want to do that’. So, I started intensely focusing, practicing 30 hours a week and taking as many classes as I could.”

The star then met celebrity choreographer Brian Friedman - who has worked with Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Mariah Carey.

She said of Friedman: “He is my biggest inspiration, because he’s done everything and is definitely one of the most well-known choreographers. He also has loads of amazing stories. He’s seen it all.”

The dancer said working with Perry, who is pregnant with her first child with actor Orlando Bloom was “great” and that working with Pink was “like a dream come true. She’s the nicest most genuine person and my parents have always been the biggest fans.”

The star is now making a move into the acting world, shooting a secret project with American Pie actor Seann William Scott last year.

Thompson said of her first moves into acting: “It was such an incredible experience and gave me the acting bug. I loved being in front of the cameras, but in a different way. I did a lot of acting when I was younger, appearing in commercials. So, I had experience, but just in a different area.”

She is set to star in Pearl, opposite Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia, which is due out at the end of the year.

“That is in post-production,” she said. “And at the end of last year I filmed a movie called American Cherry. Some of the actors from Riverdale are in it. It is hopefully going to the Sundance Film Festival. 2019 was a crazy year of acting. I am so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had.”

Thompson has been dating Vampire Diaries star Gavin Casalegno for four years. The pair were set up by a photographer who had worked with them both.

Thompson revealed: “So, she set us up basically, thinking we’d be a cute couple. He DM’d me on Instagram and we started talking a lot, but still hadn’t met.

“A month later he came back to LA, because he was living in Texas, where he was born and raised, and we met in a cafe and became best friends for a year; and now we’ve been together almost four. He’s an actor, so helps me a lot with my acting. He coaches me. Which is so cool.”

The full interview appears in July/August issue of Hello! Fashion on sale now.