Getting to Know REALITY BYTES Star Jered Allen

Indie soap REALITY BYTES has cast some daytime heavyweights including producer Tristan Rogers, Drake Hogestyn and Tonja Walker. Also part of this talented ensemble is Jered Allen, an Oklahoma native now living in Florida where REALITY BYTES will be shot. We Love Soaps spoke with Allen about his life and career and new web series role.

We Love Soaps: How long have you been acting? Is that something you grew up wanting to do?
Jered Allen: It's kind of funny. As a kid I grew up in Ada, Oklahoma, and was always around entertainment. My aunts were country singers and my uncle owned a music house. They were big in the small town areas. As a kid they would travel around Nashville and Alabama and all those places.

We Love Soaps: Ada, Oklahoma sounds familiar to me. What is it known for?
Jered Allen: It's known for [country singer] Blake Shelton. Blake and I grew up in the same area and used to catch snapping turtles in the creeks by Ada. He actually got his start at my uncle's music house, then moved to Nashville and got his recognition.

We Love Soaps: Did you ever sing?
Jered Allen: I never did sing. My first time on stage was at my uncle's music house and I had to do some lip-synching on an Elvis Presley song. Everyone liked it and I made the paper. But what I was really heavy into was sports. I played sports all the way through from when a kid to high school. When I moved to Lakeland, Florida, after high school, I had an opportunity to try out for the New York Yankees minor league team [in Tampa].

We Love Soaps: Did you also play football?
Jered Allen: No. I played baseball and basketball.

We Love Soaps: An Oklahoma kid who didn't play football?
Jered Allen: I know!

We Love Soaps: So did you get the bug to be on stage after getting kudos for your Elvis performance?
Jered Allen: When I first got to do it, there was an energy, and you fed off the crowd and people were cheering for you. It's something that kind of hit me and I kept it with me as I went through school. I was trying to make a decision about whether to continue playing sports or try something different. I had a chance to play for the Yankees and did a lot of soul searching, and decided to do something different. That's when I jumped into acting.

We Love Soaps: So you're in South Florida now?
Jered Allen: I'm actually in Lakeland. But I've moved all over Florida. I took a job with the state doing hurricane relief and would travel all over wherever hurricanes would go. In the mix of all that I was acting and doing commercials and indie movies and short films.

We Love Soaps: Did you ever think about moving to Los Angeles? Or are you happy to be in Florida where more and more things are being shot these days?
Jered Allen: It's starting to be a new crowd of filmmakers and actors here. I've always thought it could happen because the weather is great and there are a lot of talented people in Florida. I had a couple of opportunities to go to L.A., but I didn't know if I was actually ready for it. I grew up in a small town and can be naive when it comes to certain things. I wanted to build myself up and get some acting credits behind me to make sure if I ever made that jump I'd be ready for it.

We Love Soaps: Now that you're acting and doing other things, are you pursuing anything athletic these days?
Jered Allen: I play some basketball and work out. I play a little softball. My dad got me involved in one of his teams a couple of days a week. I'm trying to stay as active as I can and be healthy.

We Love Soaps: Coming from a family that had entertainment roots, were they always supporting of your aspirations to do films or now a show like REALITY BYTES.
Jered Allen: Absolutely. They're all really supportive of me. I kind of went into another side of it with acting.

We Love Soaps: How did your role on REALITY BYTES as Ben Anderson come about?
Jered Allen: I got an email and I almost skipped over it because I get a lot of junk email. It was about REALITY BYTES and they were casting some people for it. I read further into it and I liked the plot and who was involved so I emailed them back, and they asked that I do a quick audition. I got together with some buddies and put together a small clip of Ben Anderson and sent it back to them. The next day they called me back and offered me the part. It's all happened really fast and I'm excited to have the opportunity to do this. I'm starting to get phone calls at all hours of the night.

We Love Soaps: What do you know about your character?
Jered Allen: I'm still learning about him. What I do understand is that he's an up and coming star who lives in the shadow of his two famous brothers. He's trying to make enough money to get back home to Alberta, Canada.

We Love Soaps: Did you ever check out soap operas growing up?
Jered Allen: As a kid back home on my TV all we had was about five channels - a couple of sports channels, the news and soap operas. When my brother and I got home from school we basically turned on the tube and watched a couple of soaps and then headed to the woods.

We Love Soaps: Did you ever see Tristan Rogers or were you familiar with his work?
Jered Allen: We did. My brother and I have talked about it quite a bit these last few days. It's ironic because we enjoyed watching him and it's kind of funny that one day I'd get to meet him and be in something he's involved with.

We Love Soaps: What are your long-term career goals?
Jered Allen: I just want to continue working on my craft and doing the best I can and work on getting more film roles. My circle of friends is people in the industry - writers, directors or actors in films - and when you're in those groups, you have to stick together and help each other out and pull from each other. I'd like to one day be able to do more films and have them involved and get to spread my wings and touch other people in the industry.