Aubrey Peeples feels fortunate that she grew up outside of Hollywood's unforgiving spotlight before breaking into the business. She avoided having to sacrifice her childhood for stardom, a conflict similar to the one her character Jem deals with - choosing between fame and family - in the new movie "Jem and the Holograms."

"Even though I wanted to pursue [acting] from such a young age, I definitely think because I wasn't a child star... I feel like more of a whole person," the Florida native told Headlines & Global News in an exclusive interview. "I can't speak from experience, because I never dealt with that, but I'm super glad that this has been my past and that I didn't book anything huge until I moved out [to Los Angeles]."

Based loosely on the popular '80s animated series, "Jem and the Holograms" tells the story of a small-town girl (Peeples) who skyrockets to global success after a video of her singing goes viral. She keeps her real identity secret as she discovers what it really means to be a superstar and at what cost.

Although Peeples finds Jem to be a "super relatable girl," she didn't draw any comparisons between herself and the character.

"We have very different career paths... our rise has been very different and mine has mostly been in the acting world," the 21-year-old actress said. "She's definitely a character and not like an extension of myself. I prefer that in a role because I think that's the most challenging and really where you get to have the most fun."

Peeples also had a lot of fun working with her famous co-stars Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis, two actresses that she has admired her whole life.

"They've been badass women who've had incredible careers, so getting to work with anyone like them is just a blessing," she said. "I got to learn so much just being around them, watching the way their individual styles when they approach acting. It was awesome."

As Halloween fast approaches, Peeples has started to see Jem costumes popping up and she can't wait to see more.

"That will be so cool to see people post pictures of themselves as Jem. That would be so weird and awesome," she said.

Over on "Nashville," her character Layla Grant is also starting to find success at Highway 65, the label of Rayna James (Connie Britton). The winner of a reality singing competition, Layla has struggled to find people to trust with her career that began at such a young age. The person she has come to depend on most is her manager/boyfriend Jeff Fordham (Oliver Hudson), who doesn't always have her best interests at heart.

"I don't think that she necessarily trusts him. I think that she wants to trust him so she goes for it, but she has a hard time trusting anyone because of what happened with Will," Peeples said, referring to the failed marriage between Layla and Will Lexington, who came out of the closet last season.

She continued, "So many people have screwed her over and she's very alone... I think that while she lets Jeff take the reins, she is always questioning, 'Does he really love me?' That's always playing in the back of her head. But because she's vulnerable when she's alone, she's still looking for love and willing to take the risk."

Her next risk may be dropping Jeff as her manager and signing with Juliette Barnes' (Hayden Panettiere) former manager Glenn (Ed Amatrudo), who offered his services after her Bluebird performance. Peeples couldn't dish too much without spoiling a big upcoming storyline, but she's "heard whispering" about such a scenario.

Layla also has to contend with new Highway 65 artist Markus Keen (Riley Smith), who crashed her Grand Ole Opry debut.

"I've only had a few brief encounters with him but I have a feeling they're going to write more interactions between us because... we already don't like each other and we're on the same label, so I feel like the writers like to put people together who don't like each other and then see what happens," Peeples teased.

In between filming "Jem" and "Nashville," Peeples had time to shoot a couple episodes of ABC Family's new series "Recovery Road." The show is based on the young-adult novel by Blake Nelson and it focuses on a girl dealing with addiction.

Peeples will play the troubled ex-girlfriend of Wes (Sebastian de Souza), according to ET Online. Her character will be seen in flashbacks as a beautiful and innocent high school girl only to have her bear absolutely no semblance to her former self in the present day. Despite her abbreviated appearance on the show, Peeples is "so excited" for fans to see it.

"It's going to be a new leap for ABC Family. It's super dark, super edgy and that's not necessarily in a dramatic way, but in a very realistic way," she said.

Between her "Recovery Road" character and Layla on "Nashville," Peeples has portrayed several people struggling with addiction problems, but she hopes that audiences can learn from the characters mistakes.

"With both these characters, they're struggling with things a lot of people are struggling with, so I hope that they see something relatable and find the message that finding yourself is not finding yourself with a substance," she advocated.

"Recovery Road" will premiere in January 2016 on ABC Family (soon to be Freeform).

You can catch Peeples every Wednesday night on "Nashville" at 10 p.m. on ABC, and be sure to see her in theaters this weekend in "Jem and the Holograms."