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Bethany Joy Lenz is an author — again!
Her book The Betrayal of Cora Wexford, out now, is a spooky tale following a woman in 1880s London who paints the dead.
The actress’ 2024 memoir, Dinner for Vampires, detailed her time in a cult and continues to resonate with fans now.
“I feel so grateful for the chance to tell my story, and I’ve been surprised by how many people send me messages every day still, to tell me about their own similar experiences,” Lenz, 45, exclusively tells Us. “I hope it snowballs and just continues to help people heal. That’s the best outcome I could hope for.”
Below, the One Tree Hill alum also gives Us her unexpected favorite TV binge (about a fishing family?!) and reveals why she’s always getting sucked into Star Trek. Scroll down for all 25 things:
1. My favorite season is autumn unless I’m on vacation. Then I want summer!
2. [When I was younger], my parents drove me to a house where the prettiest cocker spaniel jumped into my lap. We got to take him home and he was my best friend for 13 years.
3. The last show I binged was The Hardacres on Britbox. I love the characters and the story of this tough fishery family becoming true fish out of water — pardon the pun — when they inherit a fortune. It’s a great setup and I totally fell in love with them all.
4. I tend not to read [reviews] unless someone on my team or a family member sends me something particularly nice.
5. I’m a night owl. I get my best ideas before bed, resolve to do them tomorrow, but difficulty waking up in the morning foils my plans.
6. [The nonprofit] Peace Over Violence is doing wonderful, trackable work in legal advocacy, counseling, intervention and prevention of domestic violence.
7. Most-quoted movie: Labyrinth. I could probably recite my way through the whole film.
8. Our One Tree Hill base camp PA called me “Joypiter” often. My neurodivergence is a superpower, but I can be really spacey.
9. I feel so grateful for the chance to tell my story [in Dinner for Vampires]. People still send me messages every day to tell me their own similar experiences. I hope it continues to help people heal.
10. Playing a struggling woman with a heavy past in So Cold the River was a great challenge. I need more villain roles!
11. I’m never nervous with stunts, but I am with intense emotional overtures of sorrow. I’m not personally comfortable with wild outbursts of weeping in front of anyone — excuse me while I call my therapist.
12. I’m an excellent problem solver — MacGyver level. OK, I’ve never seen MacGyver, but this is what I’m told.
13. Growing up, Jodie Foster was my acting icon.
14. My first car was a1984 Ford Bronco II Eddie Bauer edition, forest green with tan trim.
15. “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” brings back the best memories. It came on the playlist in my delivery room.
16. A Cava harissa chicken bowl with crazy feta, hummus and garlic sauce for the chips is my fast-food order. I could eat it, like, four times a week. Sometimes I do.
17. London and Paros, Greece, are my favorite places to visit. Lots of friends and activity in London, lots of peace and beauty in Paros.
18. I collect dirt from graves of saints and inspirational figures.
19. I’d love to perform in the West End and on Broadway. People know Ising a little, but most don’t know I trained for eight years with the Brooklyn College of Opera director.
20. I’d love to be a part of something Terrence Malick creates.
21. Most valuable life lesson: Appreciate every opportunity to learn the lessons.
22. I hope my legacy is kindness. I still feel so far from this as my dominant characteristic, but I hope to grow into it more daily.
23. I had quick stints on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Colony, and I wish they’d been longer! I feel like I would have learned so many cool things.
24. My best subject in school was English, hands down.
25. My daughter and I are on a Friends kick, but whenever I turn on the TV, it’s set to Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Star Talk channel. I get sucked into every conversation and often forget what I was planning to watch.
