Shades of Jade

At 21, DAYS’s Gabrielle Haugh Is Already On A Path That Would Make Other Newcomers Green With Envy.

- Stephanie Sloane

My parents definitely like to say that I was a drama queen,” muses DAYS newcomer Gabrielle Haugh of what set her on the path to performing. But as she got older, she realized it was a way to fulfill her desire to “be everything. I wanted to be a detective and then I found out that it required running. I wanted to be an interior designer and then I learned that that required math. I wanted to be a vet and then realized that there’s blood. So, I was like, ‘Well, I guess I’ll pretend to be those things.’ ”

Haugh studied theater, musical theater and dance, then signed with her first agency when she was in the eighth grade and began taking film classes. She graduated early from high school and when she was 18, she made the move to Los Angeles. Her parents had mixed reactions. “My dad, 100 percent [support],” she recalls. “My mom? I went to the same high school as her and she wanted me to go to the same college as her and get a degree and then do this. I made a plan to tell her I wasn’t going right before I had dance class. [I said,] ‘I’m not going to college! Okay, bye!’ and ran to my car. She freaked out for a while, but I was back and forth to L.A. so much I think both of my parents just got used to the idea and it was like, ‘We’re spending so much money traveling you back and forth, you should just be there.’ ”