After a prolific modeling career in which she has promoted everything from Hollister to Kohl's, Ginny Gardner is taking the next step.  Her acting career has already gotten a huge amount of buzz on very little actual exposure, and the sky is the limit as casting agents are noticing this fresh-faced beauty.

First she turned heads in a very topical story arc this season on Glee.  Gardner played Katie/Marissa, a local girl who was catfished: her pictures were stolen by someone on the internet that wanted to use them to fake an identity.  The bogus Katie became Ryder (Blake Jenner)'s internet dream girl.  However, when he ran across the real girl he thought he had been chatting with, it turned out her name was Marissa and she had no idea who he was. 

Gardner has also been tapped as one of the stars of Almanac, a Michael Bay-produced action comedy about time travel.  Almanac will be coming out in 2014.

We recently sat down with Gardner to discuss her burgeoning career.

When you were a little girl, what inspired you to go into show business?

A lot of it was from growing up watching Disney Channel.  I loved seeing kids my own age on camera doing it.  My mom was a news anchor, so I'd see her on camera all the time.  She was really inspiring for me to want to be on camera and doing something similar.  I love theater, so from an early age I got myself into it.

What was the first film that you remember seeing really wowed you?

Ooh, that's a good one.  Let me think about that.  (laughs)  I don't know.  There are so many.  I was such a fan of everything when I was younger.  I guess I keep coming back to so much of it for me was when I would see kids my own age.  Like Cheaper By the Dozen I was a huge fan of.  Any movie where there were people my own age doing it.  It was inspiring.  It was like: Oh, if they can do it, then I could be doing it too.

What movie would you say you have seen more than anything else?

(laughs)  I love the movie There's Something About Mary.  That's one of my favorite movies of all time.  I love it.

What movie can make you cry every time you see it?

Oh, God.  What is it called?  Marley & Me.  Where that dog dies?  I love that movie, but anything where an animal is hurt or harmed, I cry my eyes out.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

I think they would be surprised to know I have a black belt in Tae Kwan Do.  A lot of people would not expect that from me.

On Glee, Marissa/Katie was a bit of an odd character in the fact that most of your performance was supposed to be text messages... just voiceovers with your picture.  What was that experience like, to be on one of the most popular shows on TV but not actually appearing until your character had been established for a while?

It was kind of fun, actually.  It lent some mystery to the character.  It got people thinking about who it could be.  It created some excitement about the whole thing.  I was really excited.  I got to send in some pictures for my little chat icon.  I chose a bunch of pictures.  I have this dog that I love to death.  I got my dog to be in my chat icon.  I was excited that he got to be in an episode.  So it was cool in the fact that it got some buzz about the character.  Then when I actually made an appearance, it was really exciting.

You did the one musical number with Blake Jenner, to Elton John's "Your Song."  Was that fun? 

Oh it was so much fun.  He's so talented.  I've never done a musical or anything remotely like that before, so to be involved in that and see all the work that goes into one of those songs and to be able to dance with him, that was so much fun. 

Were you a little disappointed that you didn't get to sing?

I'm not much of a singer, so I'm kind of glad about that.  (laughs) 

Any word on whether your character may be revisited on the show?  Marissa seemed interested in getting to know Ryder better, but the show never really followed up that thread so much as they concentrated on figuring out who was the catfish.

I don't know.  I really hope that she gets to come back.  I guess we'll see once the season starts.  I'd love to be able to come back and actually have Marissa be a love interest.

Were you familiar with the idea of catfish before this?  Do you think anyone can trust people they meet on the internet?

(laughs)  Yeah, I've seen the show Catfish on MTV a million times.  I'm always skeptical about those kind of things.  I don't trust anybody I meet on the internet.  I've always been in tune with those.  I was a huge fan of Catfish before I even got called out for this, so I was excited because I would be a catfish.  (laughs again) 

Were you a fan of Glee?  How did the part come up?

I've been a fan of the show for a long time.  But of all the shows, I guess Glee was the one I never thought I'd book, because I don't sing.  When I got to the audition I was like, "I don't know.  I don't sing."  And he goes, "No, no, no, the part is great for you, because it doesn't sing."  I was like cool!  So I got in.  I ended up booking the one show I never thought I would book.  (laughs)  It ended up being really cool.

I know you didn't directly work with him, but obviously the tragic death of Cory Monteith is on everyone's mind right now.  Did you get to meet him while you were working on the show?

No, I really didn't get to spend any time with him.  But from what I've heard he was a really great guy.  A pleasure [to work with].  It's an awful, awful tragedy.  I feel so bad for them.  The cast is going through a very hard time, I'm sure.

You're going from light comedy to what is a more drama/action role in Almanac.  Do you find one or the other easier or harder or more enjoyable?

No, I love [it all].  Glee was really fun, but Almanac is great because I did get to some of that action stuff and some of the stunts and all that, which is so much fun.  They both have their pros and cons.  In Almanac, too, we had a lot of comedy in that movie.  It's definitely best of both worlds.

I can't find much info about that the movie is about yet, so without giving up any spoilers, what can we expect from Almanac?

It's really fun.  It's about these kids and what they would do with a time machine, pretty much.  I can't say a whole lot about it.  But it's just a lot of kids discover this time machine and have a lot of fun.  It's going to be a really cool movie.

Do you have anything else coming up beyond Almanac?

Almanac is it right now, but hopefully there will be a new project here shortly.

You're at the beginning of your career.  If you could take the Almanac time machine and go forward say 30 or 40 years, how would you like for people to see your acting career?

I would love for them to be surprised by the characters that I can play.  Always be doing something that people wouldn't expect for me to be doing.  But also to be really lovable and likeable.  For people to be really inspired by the work that I've done.  I'd love for kids that want to be actors or actresses when they are younger to look at me and be inspired by me.  That would be great.

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