The buzz around the current season of One Tree Hill – five-year flash-forward notwithstanding – may have been about Kevin Federline’s much-anticipated guest appearances, but there’s one person who’s causing more talk than K-Fed himself – Lisa Goldstein.
Doesn’t sound familiar?
That’s Millicent to you, Brooke’s (Sophia Bush) assistant who’s slowly winning over fans alike with her gentle, quirky, awkward ways and is one-half of the show’s newest “it” couple with the unlucky-in-love Mouth (Lee Norris).
“I think their relationship’s adorable and their characters are so innocent so I think it’s a good match,” Lisa tells OK! of her on-screen romance. “She kind of brings him back to the moral guy he was before he started sleeping with his boss.”
And the relationship is only going to get more serious – the two have already moved in together on the show and – spoiler alert! – will be one of the few couples spared drama come the season finale, Lisa teases.
“Mouth and Millicent are still together and they’re taking steps to further their relationship as the season goes on,” she says. “Everybody else is up in the air. Nobody knows what’s going to happen with Peyton and Lucas or Brooke and Lucas or Lindsey and Lucas nobody knows.”
What Lisa does know though is that she definitely will be returning for the CW drama’s sixth season next year, an unexpected development for her as Millicent was only planned for the season premiere. Charmed by early cuts of Lisa, the powers that be requested her role to be more than a one-time thing on One Tree Hill.
“They asked the writers if they wanted to start writing for me and they did,” she says. “And they did and I just kept coming back more and more first as a co-star and now I feel I’m at the top of the show.”
And why not? One Tree Hill is the actress’ first foray into television. A lifelong theater vet, Lisa, who spent the last few years performing stage productions of Disney films in Florida, landed the part of Millicent with relative ease.
“[My agent] called me and said I could either audition for the receptionist or the dorky assistant and I was like, ‘I’ll do the dorky assistant. It will be way more fun,’” she recounts. “We put the audition on tape and sent it up to Wilmington, N.C. and about a week later I totally forgot about and my agent called and said that I booked it. I was shocked!”
It was a different emotion when she first showed up on the set, walking into an already established series with a tight-knit cast.
“I didn’t know what to expect. I never been on a TV set before, but everyone was so nice and the nervousness kind of worked with the character I was doing that day so it was actually perfect,” Lisa says. “But everyone was so welcoming now I feel apart of the cast.”
Nowadays, Lisa is definitely feeling “part of the cast,” and just like their characters, she and Sophia have become BFFs off-screen as well.
“Sophia and I are actually going to get pedicures today. She’s a great person with a great heart and I’m lucky to have met her.”
One person she didn’t meet on set though? K-Fed. The aspiring rapper/actor had a three-episode arc on the show, but he and Lisa never crossed paths. However, he certainly exceeded everyone’s expectations.
"From what everybody says they were all really impressed with him he came everyday on time and prepared," she says. "Hilarie Burton was like, ‘He would know on my trailer door and run lines with me.’ He really wanted to do a good job. We were pleasantly surprised."
By Joyce Eng
After six seasons on CW sudser One Tree Hill, is it time for Chad Michael Murray to make his exit? One new report says so.
