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Gillian Zinser is 90210′s surf goddess

posted by Pretty Tough | Girls Who Are Fun Fierce & Feminine
Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 7:05pm CST

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You might know actress Gillian Amalia Zinser (@msgillianzinser) as 90210’s surf goddess Ivy Sullivan. She attended NYU and played a recurring role in the CW drama before being signed as a regular cast member for the third season of the show.

Ever the SoCal poster child— Zinser is perpetually shown in cutoffs with her board in tow. So what does this bi-coastal gal do when she isn’t playing a surfer girl on TV? She surfs. And that’s not the only similarity between the actress and her alter ego. “I share a lot of Ivy’s free-spirited attitude, her joie de vivre,” says Zinser.

FOAM Magazine sat the actress down to talk about healthy living, perfect days on the water, and her trip to Haiti working with Artists for Peace and Justice.

Foam: We hear you’re really into surfing. What do you love most about being out on the water?
Gillian Zinser: The humbling effect of being alone in the ocean. I love the peaceful feeling of being away from everything and everyone.

F: What motivated you to learn how to surf, having grown up on the East Coast?
GZ: I was in search of adventure. I learned in Costa Rica when I was 17. Warm waters, empty beaches, balmy rains and Caribbean sunsets—it was pretty magical.

F: You’re obviously really thoughtful about the way you live and treat your body. Do you have any rules, when it comes to food?
GZ: I eat mostly raw, whole foods. I won’t touch anything with ingredients I can’t pronounce.

Read the full interview here.

Zinser fans can see her later this year in the MTV movie thriller “The Truth Below,” as the sole leading female in a cast of men. Zinser plays a confident 18-year-old whose world is upended, first by romantic misunderstandings, then by a crash that leaves her and three friends trapped under an avalanche.