Beverley Mitchell, actress: Housewarming
People Weekly; New York; Nov 28, 2000;

Abstract:
That won't stop [Beverley Mitchell] from filling the house with pals every couple of weeks. "With school no one can have much fun since we're always studying, so we bring our friends here to play," says the actress, an only child who grew up outside L.A., where her mom, Sharon, is an office manager and dad David is an auto-racing promoter (they divorced when she was 16). A favorite pastime is the board game Cranium, a gift from Heaven castmate Jessica Biel.

Full Text:

Copyright Time Incorporated Nov 28, 2000

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Caption:

She passes for sweet 16 on The WB's family-oriented show 7th Heaven, but the baby-faced 19-year-old has already taken on an adult-size obligation: the mortgage on a cozy two-bedroom house on Los Angeles' West Side. "I bought it all on my own," says Beverley Mitchell, a second-year student at a nearby private university. "Last year I lived at the dorm, but I'd been thinking about getting my own home."

With the demands of Heaven (she works up to 60 hours a week portraying the compassionate Lucy Camden) and school (she carries a three-quarter-time load), Mitchell is a few months late tossing the official housewarming for her July move. No matter. On this balmy Sunday afternoon she makes up for lost time, proudly offering the grand tour to the 20 friends who straggle in. One wall in each room is painted a vibrant color-yellow for her bedroom, red for the living room and seafoam green for the kitchen. Although friends warned that she'd end up with a place that looks "like Ronald McDonald lives here," she says, the verdict comes in differently. "I think it's so beautiful!" says pal Shar Jackson, who plays Niecy on Moesha. "The girl is talented! She's got skills I didn't even know about."

One talent not on display today is Mitchell's cooking. She and roommate Dana Torgerson, a classmate and friend since seventh grade, opted for the nearby Chicago for Ribs restaurant to bring a diet-busting spread of babyback ribs, barbecued chicken, baked beans, corn bread, coleslaw, Caesar salad and veggies. "She's always panicking about if we have enough to eat," says Torgerson.

That won't stop Mitchell from filling the house with pals every couple of weeks. "With school no one can have much fun since we're always studying, so we bring our friends here to play," says the actress, an only child who grew up outside L.A., where her mom, Sharon, is an office manager and dad David is an auto-racing promoter (they divorced when she was 16). A favorite pastime is the board game Cranium, a gift from Heaven castmate Jessica Biel. But there's one problem with acting the part of hostess to typical teenagers: Mitchell says that her friends are "horrible" about RSVPing. "You leave them a message and you have to keep calling back to remind them to come!"

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Caption: "I love it here," says Mitchell (holding basket, with, clockwise from top right, Trina Mills, Erin Cushing, Shar Jackson, Dana Torgerson and Chris Gray).
Serving ribs to pal Tilky Jones, Mitchell's playing the role she was born for, "the hostess with the mostest," in the words of classmate Erin Cushing.
"Both of us are good cooks. We toil at it," says Mitchell (with roommate Torgerson). "I think it's lots of fun."
"Beverley is always worried about everyone having a good time," says Monica Alonzo (far left).