"Mean Girls" Actor Jonathan Bennett on Being a Teen Icon and Behind-the-Scenes Secrets

Yes, he still hangs out with Gretchen Wieners.
This image may contain Human Person Clothing Apparel Building Water Hotel Tree and Plant
Composite. Everett Collection, Getty Images

Jonathan Bennett's face may not smell like peppermint in real life, but the Mean Girls actor can cover a song just like Cady Heron. (His track of choice? "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani.) Which begs the question, why didn't the Plastics ask Aaron Samuels to cameo in their iconic "Jingle Bell Rock" singalong?

Unfortunately, we'll never see Aaron Samuels in a North Shore High Christmas show. But those who caught up with Jonathan on Mean Girls Day (October 3, duh) did catch a glimpse of the eternal teen heartthrob getting down to some early aughts classics. Unsurprising, considering Jonathan skyrocketed to fame in 2004 — the same year "Hollaback Girl" dropped. Ever since, Jonathan has always and will always be the boy who looks great with his hair pushed back. But sorry, Regina George, he has upgraded his look for 2017.

To honor the day in which we remember the seminal dramedy that made fetch happen, Teen Vogue caught up with Jonathan at a party — not hosted by Cady Heron, but by Yelp — where, of course, everything was pink, cakes were made out of rainbows and smiles (no, actually), and Gretchen Wieners–approved Toaster Strudels were ev-ery-where.

But instead of simply celebrating a pop-culture mainstay this year, Jonathan and his former castmates took their annual moment in the spotlight to raise money for those affected by the Las Vegas shooting. On Tuesday, Jonathan shared a video to Twitter in which he and former costars, including Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, and, later, Lindsay Lohan, urged fans of the film to donate to the National Compassion Fund.

"We know today is a special day, and that's because of fans like you. It's October 3rd," they say in the video. "This year, though, we're doing things a little differently. We want to turn the attention to those who need it. After Sunday night's tragic events in Las Vegas, let's give back. In honor of Mean Girls Day, we're asking each of you, the groolest fans out there, to help."

Since launching, their GoFundMe has raised more than $73,000 of their $300,000 goal, which, the NCF website promises, "will be distributed directly to victims" and their families to provide short-term and long-term "critical support."

"We knew that October 3rd was always a day that people look to our social media, and, obviously, the shootings happened late on the 1st and early on the 2nd is when we found out [about the shooting]," Jonathan told Teen Vogue. "[I] thought we can do something. I called up Lacey [Chabert] and Amanda [Seyfried] and Daniel [Franzese] and we decided to make a video and reunite. We knew everyone would give us a lot of attention on October 3rd, and we wanted to redirect the attention. Even though we love and are flattered by our fans, there's more important things going on in the world right now. And we wanted to redirect that attention to people who needed it."

Read on for more Mean Girls intel straight from Jonathan himself — including his favorite scene to film, the proper way to say "grool," and whether or not he's going to see Mean Girls: the Musical.

Teen Vogue: Do you keep in touch with a lot of your costars on a regular basis?

Jonathan Bennet: Me, Lacey, and Daniel hang out regularly, because we all live in the same area. But everyone else is far away. The three of us hang out a lot, but that's about it.

TV: About how many times have you seen the movie Mean Girls?

JB: Probably like over a hundred, at least.

TV: Do you have a favorite scene to watch?

JB: I really like when we turned into animals, in the dream sequence. That was fun.

But one of the funniest scenes to film was the soccer scene, because I don't know how to play soccer nor had I ever kicked a soccer ball in my life. So we went to rehearsal and the director, Mark Waters, just shook his head and said, "crap." And they had to get a soccer coach to teach me how to kick the ball because I was so bad at it. It was the first and only time I've played soccer.

TV: Who out of the core group of girls do you relate to most in real life? Are you a Cady? A Regina?

JB: I'm more of a Janis. I'm more like the odd one out.

TV: You've previously said you'd never do a sequel, but if you could do the original movie all over again, is there another character you've always secretly wanted to be?

JB: I like my character a lot. I don't think I'd change my character for anything. He's a fun one to play because he's perfectly stupid. He's perfectly dumb.

TV: Totally, endearingly dumb. So, any secrets you can tell us from behind the scenes?

JB: The one that comes to mind is when Lindsay [Lohan] throws up on me, it was chicken noodle soup and cereal mixed. And she had to put it in her mouth and then pretend to throw it up on me, and it was so gross, because it was going on my pants. And then afterwards, when they cut the movie together, they never showed it. So I realized I did all that for nothing! They didn't even show the shot of it going on me.

TV: How do you feel about the musical? Plans to see it?

JB: Oh, I can't wait to see it. Tina Fey and [director] Casey Nicholaw, he's brilliant. Those two combined, Tina and Casey, combined is going to be out of this world.

TV: Do you have any advice for whomever plays Aaron Samuels in the musical?

JB: My advice to the guy playing the Broadway version of me is, you've got a nail the word "grool." My tips on nailing the word is to not force it and to have just enough of a glossy, glazed-over look in your eye.

TV: You're also hosting Halloween Wars right now, which must mean you love October 31. Do you have a favorite Halloween costume from Mean Girls, which had some epic Halloween moments?

JB: I mean, "I'm a mouse, duh" is pretty brilliant.

TV: OK, lastly, what's it like to be a teen icon now?

JB: It's the weirdest thing to be Aaron Samuels because not a day goes by that someone doesn't come up to you and say something. I actually thought about it the other day: It would be weird to leave the house and have someone not say something. It's just part of my life, and I'm honored to be part of people's lives. Because Mean Girls isn't just a movie people like, it's part of their lives. They speak it, they use it when they go through break-ups...So, I'm proud to be a part of it. I wouldn't change it for the world.

TV: Did the cast ever imagine the lasting success of the movie?

JB: No, we had no clue. We were just a bunch of kids making a movie in Toronto. I mean, Lindsay was 16. We were all just kids.

Related: How 'Mean Girls' Would Be Different If It Took Place in 2017